Rising Puppetmaster
by Vincent von Dreyfus
Summary: Sequel to "Arctic Succession." Ganon is preparing an army to invade Holodrum, and a darkness plagues Hyrule's citizens. Loyalty will be put to the test, and deep underneath shady Kakariko Link must decide whether he serves Ganon or the Hylian crown.
1. The Army

**A Note from the Author:** Whether you are following up from Arctic Succession or have just come to join the fun, welcome to the fourth installment in the tale of Link's encounters with five of the six sages from _The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time_. The series has so far followed a tradition of mixing exciting new plotlines for _Ocarina of Time_ with deep psychological drama, and if you've been following the (so-far) trilogy you'll be glad to know that this story will continue to do so. In case you've missed the previous three sages, you can touch base on Link's romance with Saria in Phantom Destiny, witness Darunia and Link join forces in Dragon's Duet, and experience Princess Ruto's suffering in the dark tragedy that is Arctic Succession. In Rising Puppetmaster, Impa will have her turn to shine.

Do note though that unlike previous stories, this one is best enjoyed after reading the previous one, Arctic Succession, because it does contain spoilers.

Enjoy, and please don't forget to leave a review when you're all said and done.

Zelda stuff (c) Nintendo  
Oracle stuff (c) Nintendo, Capcom  
Original stuff (c) Me

* * *

**Part I ~ The Army**

I stumbled through Hyrule Field in a daze, so distant from the world that I might have pronounced myself dead, or at least drunk. Nothing looked familiar. Everything was sinister, evil. Was I truly safe? I had no shield, and even with the new Heart Container I felt weak from lack of sleep. Perhaps I should have gone to sleep, but Shiek needed me in Kakariko. I didn't know how urgent it was; I just knew she needed me.

Hyrule Field was surreal and haunting, in a sort of odd way. The clouds from Lake Hylia had extended across Hyrule, and the dark overcast ominously hung above my head like a phantom watching my every move. The field itself was a mixture of greys, as if no color could exist beneath the roof of clouds. I encountered no life; the field was as dead as Zora's Domain. There was a sinister feeling behind all of it; I couldn't place my finger on what it was, but it felt like something had changed in Hyrule. Things were going to be really different very soon.

A lethargic rage was boiling inside me. Ganondorf would pay for what he had done to the Zoras. I would not rest until his blood was smeared across the walls of his god-forsaken castle. Navi and Ruto pleaded me to think clearly; looking back, I wish I had. Perhaps I would have been better prepared. But before I continue, I feel introductions are in order.

My name is Link. I am a Hylian, though for almost all my life I thought I was a Kokiri. The forest was and continues to be my home, the ominous Lost Woods calling to me sometimes even when I am not nearby. Seven years ago, I was brought into what at first seemed an exciting adventure. Such joy I felt, traveling across Eastern Hyrule and collecting the Spiritual Stones for an over-reacting princess. Until the Deku Tree died--the tragedy that began my new life--I had been sheltered like every other Kokiri in the Lost Woods, forbidden to leave its misty shadows. But with the god's dying breath he sent me outside the forest with the Kokiri Emerald, and since then I've seldom revisited it. The princess directed me to the volcanic Death Mountain to acquire the Goron Ruby, and shortly after I collected the princess of Zora's Domain and took the Zora Sapphire as my reward. Little did I know that this was all a ruse, the evil Ganondorf lurking both in front of and behind my every step. As soon as I opened the path to the Triforce, a sacred object that granted any desire, he appeared behind me and snatched it. No more than seconds afterward, the caretaker of the Temple of Light, Rauru, cast me into a seven year coma.

For seven years I slept, all because an ancient man thought I wasn't old or strong enough to wield the Sword of Evil's Bane, the Master Sword, and slay Ganondorf then and there. For those same years, Hyrule went without a single person strong enough to challenge Ganon's might. Ganon became the new king, and the kingdom was cast into turmoil. One by one, five of the six Temples of Power were taken over by Ganon's minions and their corresponding land succumbed to darkness. Now that I've awakened, under guidance of my fairy Navi, the Light Sage Rauru, and the mysterious Shiek, I've been traveling Hyrule all over again purifying the temples and saving our kingdom. It sounds glorious; but to me, it has been a perpetual, re-occurring nightmare.

Mere minutes after my revival, I discovered my best friend and secret crush, Saria, was being held captive in the Forest Temple not far from my own house in the Lost Woods. To save her, I had to match wits with more ghosts than I can count. It paid off in the end, and the new Deku Tree was able to expel the phantoms and monsters from the Lost Woods for good.

My next trial came in Death Mountain after it had the greatest eruption Hyrule had ever experienced. Gorons had been rounded up and were due for sacrifice, but by teaming up with Darunia we slayed the terrible dragon Volvagia in the core of the Fire Temple. The land healed its wounds, and the Gorons were once again able to live safely on their volcanic home.

The third temple brought with it the greatest tragedy I'd ever witnessed or experienced. The effect of my coma was evident; I had woken up three years too late, only to discover all but two Zoras stone dead and all the waterways of Hyrule possessed by a psychopathic water-woman named Lady Morpha. By copying my own identity, a creation of her's that I called "Dark Link" turned Zora's Domain into a glacier, scared off the Zora's guardian deity Jabu-Jabu, and in his absence slaughtered them all. Shiek and I were there to witness his final murder, the assassination of none other than King Zora himself, right before our eyes. We thought all the Zoras to be extinct, until we discovered Princess Ruto was in hiding in Lake Hylia. With Ruto's help, I brought justice to all the dead Zoras by killing Morpha and her illusions once and for all.

But let's not get off on a tangent.

The darkness was coming; I didn't know what that meant, nor what the darkness was, but it was coming. The greatest threat to Hyrule had yet to show its face to the country; despite facing Lady Morpha herself, I just knew something wasn't right. She wasn't...real. She was a psychopath at best, a woman comparable to Majora at worst, but all the fights I had fought as of yet all seemed guided, as if there was some force comparable to the gods manipulating all these affairs. What made me look into the pool and see Morpha's nucleus? I had no reason to look into it. So why did I do it? Was it the gods? Or was it something else? How long had this been going on? Was I being guided even now?

The sun was beginning to set when I arrived at the eastern edge of Hyrule Field. Long shadows were cast all around me. It was like I was in some sort of dream world, separate from Hyrule completely. The field just didn't look the same. Trees appeared menacing, the grass crunched too loudly, and the shadows were so dark you could have said they were solid. The howling of the cold, dry wind was like the moaning of restless souls, calling for me to join them in their graves. I walked in a stupor, aware only of these things, unaware of where I was going, what I was doing, why I was even going east. Shiek wasn't this far south. Kakariko was in the north...

Suddenly I snapped back into reality, and before me stood the entrance to the Lost Woods. "Why have I returned here?" I asked Navi, though my question was so quiet I don't think she noticed. I felt almost out of breath, like every word was a struggle to get out. What was happening to me, why did I feel like this? I tried to pull myself together and find out why I was brought to my forest home, but the entire time I had this unbreaking sense of anxiety.

"Quick, hide!" Navi cried. I darted behind a boulder. It was almost black in the orange, ethereal light, but its shadow was even blacker. I felt like I had stepped into a small patch of night.

"What is it!?" I demanded, still struggling to speak.

"Look, Stalfos!" Navi explained. I peeked over the boulder cautiously. Just as Navi had said, a Stalfos passed by almost dangerously close. It was moving in the direction away from the Lost Woods. Searching beyond it, I saw more Stalfos silently stepping out of the shadows and mist of the Lost Woods and marching north. I could have counted at least ten, but there seemed to be a lot more farther up north. The one nearby took no notice of me, none at all; the Stalfos in the Forest Temple had been so alert that this felt really bizarre. Stalchild rose from the ground slightly north of the forest and walked amongst the Stalfos in their march north. Their glowing orange eyes' light was deafened by the sun's rays.

I was at an utter loss for any explanation. "What's going on?" I whispered to Navi. "I thought the Deku Tree Sprout purified the forest."

"Don't forget, Link," Navi offered, "Stalfos are a natural member of the forest. They probably weren't erased like the other ghosts."

I watched Stalfos after Stalfos step out of the mist, until it seemed like there was no end to their numbers. "They weren't doing this before," I pondered. "Why now?" I had to find out. I waited until the next Stalfos passed me by, and then I made a mad dash into the shade of the Lost Woods. Despite being in clear view, none of the skeletons noticed me.

A wave of nostalgia and memories flooded into my head. Haunted paintings, vile ghosts, flying skulls, Saria... It felt so long ago that I had wandered the dark, candle-lit halls of the Forest Temple. The moldy smell of the art museum was a distant memory now. The only thing that remained vivid was Saria. Oh, the joy I had felt when we danced...

The Lost Woods visually was the same as it had always been. Dark, foggy, and ever so mysterious, it was a realm that continued to be virtually untouched by outsiders. Dominated by a dynasty of Deku Trees, and otherwise ruled only by the Deku Monarchy in the far southeast, it was neither part of the kingdom of Hyrule nor the commonwealth of Holodrum. It sat ominously in-between, forbidden to outsiders and imprisoning those living within. Of course, it wasn't devoid of civilization. The western neck of the woods, where the dark Headstone Mountain loomed and where the fog seemed thickest, was owned by the Skull Kids, Hylian children who had become lost in the woods and were painfully transformed into scarecrow-like imps. The east, containing the ancient Tarm Ruins and the gate into Holodrum, was owned by the Deku, wooden, opportunistic creatures who were both trustworthy and untrustworthy at the same time, depending on what was in it for them. Finally, the center was owned by the people with whom I'll forever associate: the Kokiri, children of the Deku Tree. They were forest sprites that donned the form of Hylian and Horon children, and they lived with the Deku Tree in a village called Kokiri Forest, of which the Forest Temple and Hyrule Field were near.

It was like taking a step back in time, to when Hyrule was but a growing nation. A powerful kingdom once dominated the land covered now by the Lost Woods. As I stumbled over fallen logs and slippery rocks damp from the mist, I passed by dark, ghostly pillars once part of a sort of marketplace. The Lost Woods--especially the Tarm Ruins--was dotted with these ancient relics. It is said in Kokiri Lore that the people who built them were worshipers of the moon, the Earth People, whose capitol sat atop Headstone Mountain. Though peaceful, they were eventually wiped out by outside races, namely the Hylians. Their last act before dying was planting a seed to harbor their god, the God of the Earth, which grew into the first Deku Tree and cleansed the dead kingdom by creating the cursed forest.

I could not see through the dense fog drifting in and out of the ancient trees. It didn't matter much; I was caught up in memories, reminding myself of what it meant to be a Kokiri and awing about how distant Hyrule's troubles felt even just a few yards into the growth. I was not aware of my surroundings until suddenly I ran face-to-face into a large skull. "Ah!" I yelped, jumping back in surprise. Navi jolted off my blue hat, my exclamation knocking her awake. In front of us stood a well-defined skull with glowing red lights where the eyes normally would have been. It wore a the lower half of the turquoise Hylian Tunic around its waist, and a pair of thick boots over its feet, but the rest of its body was exposed bone, a skeleton. The skeleton clutched a sword so crooked that it resembled a lightning bolt as well as a circular shield as pale as the moon. I was standing no more than a foot away from a well-armed Stalfos Warrior. One of the Lost Woods' cruelest curses was a defense mechanism used to keep outsiders out of the forest. Any adult who didn't live in the forest and entered it was ripped of all their skin and organs until all that remained was a skeleton, cursed to roam the forest for eternity as a Stalfos. The curse on the Forest Temple had sent these Stalfos into a dangerous craze, and several Stalfos in the temple were under the influence of Ganondorf. I thought the evil Stalfos were gone--what they were doing walking the world again I did not know.

The Stalfos seemed just as surprised as I was. "Who goes there?" it demanded, its low voice crackling like the rusty hinges on an old door. Its breath smelled of decaying flesh.

"I am Link," I replied cautiously, my words only a whisper.

"Names mean nothing." Its words were hollow, unnatural. "State your allegiance!"

"A-Allegiance?" Was I going to avoid a fight after all? The Stalfos couldn't see me clearly through the fog, it must not have recognized who I was.

"Everything has an allegiance. Do you side with the Great One, or are you a rebel? One or the other!" It pointed its sword at me. "Tell me now!"

I panicked. "I... I'm with the Great Ganondorf, sir!" I cried, saluting the Stalfos before I knew what I was doing. What was wrong with me...?

"How many have you killed?" it demanded.

"Uh... M-Many?" I offered. I was Ganon's "henchman," I must have "killed" thousands.

In seconds, the crooked sword was inches away from my neck. "We have orders not to kill anybody yet!"

I was brutally reminded of the tragedy of the Zoras. "B-But sir," I countered aggressively, "doesn't the death of our enemies get rid of them for good?"

The Stalfos stumbled towards me, and I away from it. Its next words struck a blow to my soul. "Death? What do you know about death?"

"Wh-What?" I backed away. "I know everything about death! I've killed so much, I've seen so much death... I know everything about it!" I could feel my rage boiling. I'd witnessed an entire graveyard of Zoras! What more could it want!?

"You know nothing about death," the Stalfos droned, advancing towards me. Behind it, I could see the chilling image of another Stalfos rising from the ground. It was like some ghost story, only real...

"But I--"

"Nothing about death." The Stalfos drew back its sword. I took little time in pulling out mine.

"Sir, I side with Ganondorf!" I insisted, not at all willing to fight any Stalfos at a time like this. A third one started to rise...

"Nothing about death," the Stalfos repeated as I backed away even faster. It was as if the world were in slow motion. I felt myself bump into something cold, bumpy and rock hard. Turning around, I gasped in horror as I saw another skeleton mere inches away from me. It was another Stalfos, keeping me from getting further away from the first. But that wasn't all; Navi was missing. "Nothing." Alone and defenseless without Navi or my shield, I prepared to make a desperate attempt to swing my sword and get rid of the skeletal menaces, but something stopped me. It was like I couldn't even move my arm when I even considered harming the Stalfos. There was a mental block. My legs started moving beneath me, and before I knew it, I wasn't fighting--I was running out of the dark forest. None of the Stalfos chased me, but as I peeked behind me I could see them rising from the forest, others materializing out of the dense fog in greater numbers than I could have imagined. I broke out of the Lost Woods and into Hyrule Field, but I didn't stop. I dashed past the skeletons already in the field, and suddenly I finally was able to pinpoint where they were going: Kakariko. By Din's Rod, there was an army of Stalfos and Stalchild marching towards Kakariko Valley. I'd just have to make it first.

-

The sky was a thick orange as I scrambled into the shady village of Kakariko, between Death Mountain and Fire Mountain in a gorge known as Kakariko Valley. The village had seen better days, but had been relatively untouched by Ganondorf. He was smart enough to understand that his kingdom could not survive without an economy, and for seven years he had apparently continued trade with the neighboring Kingdom of Labyrinna and Holodrum Commonwealth. Though for the first year or two it was heavily patrolled by Gerudo soldiers, Kakariko Village was in a way still how it used to be seven years ago when I woke up from my coma.

Hyrule Castle Town was a bloodbath during the first year; anybody who couldn't escape the city in time was killed by a horrific zombie ReDead. Those who did escape, however, either left the country or sheltered themselves in Kakariko Village. Because of this, the village's population skyrocketed, and so many new houses were needed that instead they all just roomed together. I had discovered this when I last arrived in Kakariko to fetch the hookshot for the Forest Temple. My very first impression was how many more people there were. From the talk of the people, however, one was unaccounted for: Blind, the Shadow Thief.

The undersides of my knees were aching by the time I finally stopped. Arriving through the entry gate to Kakariko, I found a bench to rest on as quickly as possible. Sitting down brought a rush of soothing relief, like a balloon being gently deflated. Normally I would have used Epona for that sort of distance; why did I run it all? It was suicide! I found myself panting and gasping for air, and there was a painful stitch in my side. "Navi," I hoarsely summoned aloud, lonely without my glowing companion, "where are you?"

"Excuse me? Are you alright?" I nearly jumped when I realized there was a woman sitting on the bench next to me with a parasol. I recognized her as Anju, a woman who owned a Cuckoo Farm in town. She was observing me with concerned eyes, as if I was horribly ill. "I'm sorry," she apologized, seeing my shock, "did I surprise you? I didn't mean to; I really am sorry!"

"A-Anju?" I stammered.

"Do you know me?" Now Anju was the shocked one.

I shook my head. "No, but I've heard of you. You're that Cuckoo farmer."

Now she was mad. "Sir, if you're going to laugh at me, I might as well just leave!"

"No, no!" I begged. "Please don't go! I wasn't going to laugh."

"Alright," she snapped contemptuously, "but just remember, I was the one that asked if you were okay. Don't go tormenting a poor girl with any tricks."

"I won't. Believe me," I sighed, "I don't want anything to do with tricks." I collected myself and stood up. "My name's Link," I told her, dusting myself off. "I'm looking for the Great Impa, do you know where I might find her?"

Anju made a face. "Ugh! You're looking for _her_? You aren't one of Ganondorf's men are you?"

I shook my head. "Never. Why do you ask?"

Anju stared at me incredulously. "You aren't from around here, are you? I suppose you wouldn't know, then. We've about had it with Impa, don't you know? She's not doing us any good; she's with Ganondorf, you know." Seeing my look of surprise, she stood up and whispered, "You're a strong-looking man. Why don't you help us?"

"Help you do what?" I asked with a nervous chuckle.

"Get _rid_ of her, of course!"

"What!?"

"You know--a revolt or something! We've had it with working for Ganondorf and his _dear_ Impa. See, me and a bunch of others--more than half the village, I'd guess--are planning an assassination!" My eyes widened. "She's hiding something in the graveyard; we all know she is, otherwise why would she keep going there and disappearing? We're going to get rid of her, and take back what should be our's!"

I backed away and shook my head. "It sounds very exciting, but I'd like to have a word with her first. We're...old acquaintances."

Anju made a deep sigh, but submitted. "Fair enough," she shrugged. "Her slimy ol' house is on that hill over there." She pointed with her parasol towards a large, creepy manor at the top of a large hill near us. "I'm warning you, though," she added darkly before leaving me, "side with the _Imp_ and we'll target you too!"

"Oh Navi," I mumbled under my breath once I was alone, glimpsing up at the ominous manor with a shiver. "What am I going to do without you?"

-

If there was a single shadow on Hyrule's surface it would be Kakariko Valley. Death and Kakariko went hand-in-hand for ages; in fact, Kakariko was Shiekhah for "Bloodland." Long ago, it was home to a race of people known as the Shiekhah, or alternatively as the Shadow Folk. A people that prided themselves in their cunning and battle skills, they flourished in the shadows of Kakariko Valley for centuries, even back when the Hylians were just migrating into Hyrule from Labyrinna. When the Kingdom of Hyrule was just a baby nation, the Shiekhah pledged allegiance to them, and for many years afterwards watched over the deceased members of the Royal Family. The Hylian Royal Family, in fact, had their graveyard in Kakariko. The Shadow Temple was a less-glorious move; if the Hylians broke their bond with the Shiekhahs, they would be tortured in the blood bank for eternity. Unfortunately, the immigration of the different races into Hyrule proved to be their downfall. When the Hylian Civil War began, the Shiekhah got the short end of the stick. Though in the end the Hylians, Shiekhah, and Zoras won ownership of Hyrule, all but one Shiekhah had died.

Impa was all that remained. She was the proud mayor of Kakariko Village, now that her duties as Zelda's nanny were all but lost. Ganondorf had only let her live because he knew the village wouldn't co-operate without her. She was a massive creature, towering above even the tallest men. Covered with face-paint and dressed in battle armor, she looked like she was preparing to go to war. Her presence was ominous and intimidating, and her face was so stern and her voice so tense and commanding that you'd think her somebody to fear; but the ghostly white hair, peaceful body language, and distaste of war gave her true nature away. Impa had given up fighting long ago, and she was now a kind, caring, but strong-minded woman, the perfect person to act as Zelda's au pair when she was younger. I met her almost immediately after meeting Zelda, and though we talked only briefly, I knew she was a woman to be trusted. I hadn't had the pleasure of talking with her since my coma, so I was eager to visit her.

Impa's house stood atop the hill overlooking most of the rest of the village. It was the darkest part of the valley, apart from the Graveyard, and always sat in a foreboding shadow no matter what the time of day. It was the most different from the other buildings; though Shiekhah architecture was everywhere, Impa's house was particularly Shiekhah quality, possessing dark, candlelit chambers, grim statues of birds and bats, and gorgeous stained glass walls. It was impossible not to feel at least a bit anxious in Impa's house, which was really more of a manor, the kind that these years you'd normally only find in up-state Lynna City. A vile wind howled outside, rattling the wooden window shades, all of which were closed save for a single large window overlooking the windmill. The window was within the view of a large, silver chair with purple velvet cushions for sitting on. The chair was too large for a Hylian--it was made to fit a Shiekhah, and indeed it was there that I found Impa. She stared out the window from her chair in mild apprehension, troubled.

I stood before her nervously. Her glare was so intimidating, it felt like my entire soul was being observed. She was truly one of the Shadow Folk. "H-Hello, Impa," I greeted, my voice shaking. "It's been a while." My last glimpse of Impa had been seven years ago when Ganondorf invaded Hyrule Castle Town. She had been riding away on a horse with Princess Zelda.

Impa smiled ever so slightly, but did not move. "What a surprise it is, to see the man clad in forest green standing before my dark throne," she brooded, her voice cold and stern. The way she talked, I almost felt like I was being accused of something; but from what I had seen of her before, this was ordinary for her to speak that way. "Welcome, Link, to my humble abode. What can I do for you?"

"I'm checking on how things are going," I replied, though I knew it was an obvious lie.

"You've come to seek out the Sage of Shadow, I assume?" she beamed, amused by my reaction. "Yes, I know your mission. I am also aware of who I am. But that wasn't hard to deduce; I am, after all, the only Shiekhah left." Her smile vanished, and she added darkly, "There is no other." It was all too easy to remember where Impa stood. She had witnessed her people dying; not even Ruto had witnessed her _entire_ race's destruction. And the Shiekhah hadn't died of evil monsters; they had died of Gerudo and Gorons. "Let's cut to the chase, Hero of Time," Impa continued, not at will to lower her guard for any substantial time. "Your mission is to purify the Temples of Power; or, to be specific, the Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit Temples. You've done all but the last two; and seeing as the Spirit Temple lies far away, you've come here first. Is this satisfactory?"

I nodded. "Wow, I'm impressed," I remarked. How did Impa know so much?

"You won't be for long. I hate to destroy all that you have journeyed here for, but I've been the Shadow Sage for seven years, and I've done my job. Ganondorf has yet to lay a finger on the Shadow Temple."

I gasped. "But I was told--"

"You were told wrong," Impa interrupted, chillingly but understandably calm. "I've lowered myself to the lowest moral level, letting Ganondorf take control of my village instead of fighting back like a real Shiekhah. But I'd protect that temple with my life; it is the last great mark left by my people, and I'd rather die than see it destroyed." Impa lowered her voice and bent towards me. "I'm sorry you've gone through the trouble to come here," she whispered, "but Shiek just got a little over-excited. The Shadow Temple is perfectly alright."

"You know Shiek!?"

Her voice became even quieter. "Of course I do. Who do you think taught him the ways of the Shiekhah?" My jaw dropped. "My job is to protect my people, even when it means allowing Ganondorf to rule over us in order to avoid a bloodbath like the one in Hyrule Castle Town. Shiek is liberating Hyrule in my place. That is how I know your mission, and that as a Sage I must keep my guard up in case Ganondorf finds out."

"And how long do you intend to allow Ganondorf to be in charge?" A new voice entered the manor, and we both turned to see Shiek walking through the door. He sounded impatient and deeply irritated, as if he had been asking that question for years. "How long do you intend to serve him instead of fight him!?"

Though I was surprised by the apparent defiance Shiek was portraying, Impa appeared to have gone through this debate before. She kept calm and collected, and eyed Shiek like he was a naive little boy who over-generalized the world. "Your presence is acknowledged, Shiek, but your argument is not," the Shiekhah said, not even bothering to reconcile.

"How can you just sit here and be Ganondorf's little pet!? You used to be Princess Zelda's protector! She trusted you to help put an end to this madness!"

"I trust you've been doing well, Link," Impa sighed, ignoring her student, "though I understand there have been some challenges to your might. I must thank you for putting an end to Death Mountain's eruption; we were beginning to fear Kakariko's time had already come to an end." She stood up and stepped towards me. Even though I was reasonably tall, I had to strain my neck up to see her face. I felt like a small mouse. Impa looked down at me with an urgent face. I could smell the flowers of Kakariko in her armor, and it gave me a nauseous headache, foreshadowing things to come. "Unfortunately, your trials were merely that: trials. I am afraid that your job will only get harder from here on out."

"Wh-What do you mean?" I inquired, getting a bad feeling in my stomach. I'd been through a lot; it was difficult to imagine anything worse.

Impa's face was as grim as a dark raincloud; some inner turmoil seemed to be playing about in her head, and I dreaded her words before she spoke them. The room seemed just a bit darker; I hoped it was just the setting sun. When the Shiekhah answered, it was in a whisper. "Ganondorf's goal isn't Hyrule," she warned, "it's the _world_. He's had us for seven long years, and now he wishes to expand his dark kingdom. Shiek informs me that Ganon is preparing an army to invade Holodrum."

I found it a struggle to breathe. "What!?" I gasped. An army... I had never fought an entire army before. Not to mention that the situation in its entirety had gotten very dire very fast. "He's preparing an army!?"

Impa nodded solemnly. "I haven't seen it yet, but considering how skillfully Ganondorf has corrupted this land--"

"We could have stopped it!" Shiek yelled suddenly, eyes once again directed fiercely at his teacher. "Maybe not seven years ago, but what about three years ago!? Sure, Link is the only one who can slay Ganondorf; but that didn't mean I had to go into hiding! It didn't mean you had to be weak and just _give_ Kakariko to him! This is your _home_, Impa, not your _trading commodity_! Your entire people died here so that the Gerudo wouldn't take it, and now you've let Ganondorf, their _king_, take it like stealing meat from a vegetarian!" Shiek pounded the wall with a fist angrily and bowed his head. "We could have re-united the people of Hyrule, we could have formed a resistance, we could have _won_! I never should have trusted you, it's all your fault! Now Ganon's got an army, and there's nothing we can do about it!" If I didn't know better, I could have sworn Shiek was crying under those bandages. "I trusted you, Impa..."

Impa was silent for a moment, obviously hurt by Shiek's verbal attack. Impa tried to be strong; but I saw then that she had an inner soft spot when it came to her people. She was, as I kept realizing, virtually just like Princess Ruto. She had no family to speak of; she had found a new family in the Hylian Monarchy, and with Ganondorf in charge she had lost them too. Now even Shiek was turning on her, not to mention her own villagers. Ruto had sympathy; Impa had nobody. She was, quite frankly, all alone in the universe. It would be hard for anybody to survive as long as she had with a condition like that. As I gazed up at Impa, I could see her muscular body, usually stiff as a statue, trembling.

I didn't know what to say; all I knew was that I had to say something. The bond between Shiek and Impa, whatever it was, was ready to collapse, and it didn't look like either of them were willing to come to its rescue. I searched desperately for words, but nothing came to my tongue. I was at as much of a loss as they were. But gradually, something did come to mind; unfortunately, it wasn't anything good. "Impa," I requested warily, unsure what sort of reaction I'd get in her current state, "I know where his army is."

Now Shiek was the one who was surprised. Quite frankly, I didn't even realize the validity of my statement until his reaction. Was I really on the right track? "What!? Where!?" he demanded. "Where's the army, Link? You _must_ tell us!"

I glanced worriedly at Shiek for a moment, but quickly turned my attention back to Impa. My lips were trembling. I was scared. I'd been through so much already, horrific and chilling, and yet this was the first time since I stepped into the Deku Tree had I was truly and honestly scared. Scared of what I unknowingly witnessed, and fearful of what it may mean. In a way, I didn't even want to answer Shiek. "Impa," I explained nervously, "as I was coming to Kakariko I saw...Stalfos." Shiek's eyes grew wide. Impa's didn't nearly grow as much, but I could see how she was a bit worried about what was to come herself. Unfortunately for her, she had no idea as to why I was truly frightened. "Hundreds and hundreds of Stalfos," I continued, tension building in my body with every word. "I saw them marching out of the Lost Woods, my home."

"Marching? Where to?"

I could hardly look at either of them. "They were marching...to Kakariko."

"To Kakariko?" Impa demanded. "It... No, he wouldn't!"

"Did you really think he'd just let these people live?" Shiek cried, her frustration evident. "He wiped out as many people in Hyrule Castle Town as he could! He's not just going to let you all sit here, untouched by his evil. He means to kill you!"

"No, there must be some other reason!" Impa was in great disbelief, but there was a sudden coldness in her voice that could only mean she was preparing herself to be a brave leader for her people. "We agreed that nobody in this village would die, he swore upon it!"

"This is Ganondorf!" Shiek retaliated. "He swore allegiance to the King of Hyrule, and now he was _the first to die_!"

"But it's been seven years," I suggested. "Why would he wait so long to attack?"

Impa looked at me ominously. She was unnervingly calm as she spoke. "...the Shadow Temple." It was as if everything had pieced together in her mind. "For seven years, this has been the one temple his evil finger hasn't touched. Now you have been stripping him of his other dominions. He only has the Spirit Temple left, and with you ever-present he needs something a little closer to home. If he takes the Shadow Temple he will have an unstoppable army of undead warriors. I would think it a very high priority for him at the moment."

"Link, how far away was the army?" Shiek inquired urgently.

"...they'll be here by tomorrow at sundown," I answered darkly. I could see his face turn pale.

There was suddenly a loud shattering sound. We all turned around in time to witness a stained glass window ripping apart, revealing a blood-red sky contrasting with a near-black shadow cast over Kakariko Village. I could hear furious chatter down below, masking a faint (but quickly growing louder) chant that sounded an awful lot like "Death to Ganondorf!" Impa and Shiek seemed to think at once that Kakariko was stepping up at once to stand their ground against the enemy, but as I looked down at the large brick lying on the floor among the shards of glass I felt the people of Kakariko were here for a different reason.

All three of us carefully crossed the pile of glass and stuck our heads out the window. Impa's manor was at a height that forced us to look almost directly down to see the crowd of people down below us, and it didn't look pretty. It looked like every resident of Kakariko Village but the Windmill owner and the gravekeeper was present. Many of them carried either a pitchfork or a flaming torch, and every single one of them was characterized by an angry face directed immediately toward Impa. As soon as Impa arrived at the window there was an upshot in cursing and slandering. "What is this? What's going on?" Impa demanded angrily.

"The villagers have planned a coo, Impa," I quickly replied. "They're revolting."

"But why!?" she roared. Impa now truly sounded as she looked--powerful, commanding, and not one to mess with. "People of Kakariko!" she addressed the mob, her voice booming over the shouts. "For what reason have you joined the ranks of sheep and come so blindly to harp your queen?" I could see where Shiek got his riddle-talk from. Impa was a natural poet.

"Traitor!" Anju cried.

"You've cursed our village long enough!" an old man bellowed.

"Down with Impa, and all others who side with the wicked Ganondorf!" the boss of the village carpenters screamed.

"People of Kakariko," Impa responded, giving a brief, furious glance at Shiek's "I told you so" face, "I have never once and shall never in the future sided with Ganon! You are all greatly mistaken, and now is not the time to quarrel!"

"We've had enough of your tricks!" There was a wave of agreement in the crowd. "It's time to bring an end to this Shiekhah-Gerudo sovereignty! Kakariko is for the HYLIANS!" I'd never heard so many cheers in my life.

Impa was as shocked as I was. "Fellow townspeople, I have never sworn allegiance to the Gerudo! Have you forgotten already that it was I who opened Kakariko _to_ the Hylians? Why is it now that my people should be seen as unfit for this valley? What have we done to deserve this!?"

The mob was so blind that they didn't pay any attention to her. They had even changed their chant. Instead of "Death to Ganondorf," they were now shouting "Down with the Shiekhah!"

Impa snuck a peek at the crimson sky. "_Please_," she offered, "if we are to argue about this, let it be in peace and at another time! This isn't the time for a rebellion!"

"Don't listen to her! She's just trying to trick us!"

"People of Kakariko, we must evacuate to the mountains!" Impa commanded, doing her best not to lose her cool. I, on the other hand, was sweating waterfalls. "There is an army of evil skeletons marching towards our valley as we speak! If we don't do something, all of Kakariko will be ground to dust tomorrow by nightfall!"

Some of the members of the mob grew quiet, probably concerned about the army. But others just got angrier. "We've had enough of your excuses!" the carpenter boss insisted. "You want to play games, Impa? Well how about _this_ game?" He and some other villagers turned around and began to run out of the crowd and in the direction of a large hill in the back of the village: Shady Hill, where the giant windmill stood.

Impa herself now seemed a bit pale. "Oh no, you fools," she whispered sharply. "What are you doing?" She then turned away from the mob and looked at Shiek and I. "Gentlemen," she hastily ordered, "we must go to Shady Hill immediately. I fear something terrible may happen. These people's minds are their own any longer; there is great evil at work here." She motioned towards a door. "This is a passage that will take us directly to the windmill. Hurry; we haven't much time." With lightning speed, Impa pulled the door open and bolted down a flight of stairs.

I started to follow, but Shiek stopped me. "Link," he said quietly, trying to be brief, "I fear that Impa's right. In the case that the events that shall now transpire are in the favor of evil, our mission shall be hopeless unless you do as I command." He reached behind Impa's chair and pulled out an old sheet of paper. There were musical notes written on it, separated into three songs by faded handwriting. "Play these songs, in this order, on your ocarina if things go wrong. I haven't the slightest clue what you shall have to do to fix this mess, but six years ago I was told in a dream that you were to be taught these. The first, the Prelude of Light, will teleport you back to the Temple of Time. There, you must replace the Master Sword in the Pedestal of Time, as fast as you can. There won't be a moment to lose. Once you've done that... I don't know what will happen, but my dream told me that you will then have to play this song, the Song of Storms, inside the Kakariko Windmill for its owner. The way to reverse evil's fortune will then be made clear, and the Truth will be revealed at last. What that means, I do not know, but you will have to re-take the Master Sword and play one last song: this one, the Nocturne of Shadow, the anthem of the Shiekhah. I do not know where it will take you, but you must play it." I took the paper from him, but honestly I had a difficult time remembering everything that he said. There wasn't time to ask for the directions to be repeated, however, because by the time I looked up from the paper Shiek too had darted down the stairs. I had no choice but to follow.

-

We came out of the passage and onto a ledge overlooking Shady Hill. If I had passed by casually I wouldn't have noticed, but on Impa's direction I found a column of conveniently-placed rocks rising up the ledge like footholds. We all scrambled down and onto the soft dirt and grass in front of the windmill. No sooner had we arrived than did the carpenter and his men. Between us was a structure so dark in the dying light that it seemed to shine darkness onto everything around it. I felt a sharp chill just looking at it. It was a large, ordinary well, the centerpiece of Kakariko Village, and therefore worthy of the name Kakariko Well. Normally I wouldn't have paid it a second of notice, but I found myself intrigued by the well to an almost-tantalizing degree. Perhaps, when this commotion was all over, I'd pay a visit to the well. It was so alluring... Almost to the point that it was scary.

Impa's towering presence loomed in front of Shiek and I, while the carpenter, evidently the head of the revolution, stood in front of the other villagers. "Citizens," Impa ordered loudly, in a tone so stern and demanding that she sounded like a nervous parent lecturing their reckless child before they hurt themselves, "I will repeat myself one more time. Stop this madness now, before it is too late! We must evacuate!"

"Don't bother yourself, old hag!" the carpenter snapped. "We aren't listening to you anymore!"

"I'm telling you, sir, don't do this! Stop, before I'm forced to stop you myself!"

Another villager expressed concern to the carpenter boss, but he just laughed. "Don't worry, Nigel," he jeered, "she won't bite. Look at her, she's terrified! And you know why? Because we know her weakness."

"What's he talking about?" I whispered aside to Shiek. "What weakness?"

Shiek's reply was very grave. "The well. Her parents are buried there. She wouldn't dare fight near it and dishonor her family. It's a Shiekhah taboo."

"Oh no..."

"Surrender this village, Impa, and never come back! Those are our terms, and we're sticking with it!" the carpenter boss stated.

"Please, be reasonable, before it's too late!" pleaded Impa. Shiek was right; Impa wasn't going to fight this time.

"It already _is_ too late!" the carpenter growled. "Burn it!" he ordered to the mob.

"NO, YOU IDIOTS, DON'T BURN IT!" Impa screamed. Even Shiek was taken aback. That didn't sound like the scream somebody made when their family's grave was destroyed. It sounded far more serious. Before Impa could get around the well to stop them, the carpenter boss and his men hurled their flaming torches at the Kakariko Well. The wooden arch over it was immediately lit aflame, as was the grass around it. Bizarrely, the water too burst into flames. The inferno illuminated all of Shady Hill, yet the well itself remained blacker than ever. I felt more drawn to it than ever. I heard Shiek called something to me, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"Fools, do you realize what you've done!?" Impa shook the carpenter boss over and over again. "You've done exactly what it wanted, you idiots, you blithering idiots, you've freed it!"

The boss was quite shaken. That wasn't something he expected to hear. "Wh-What do you mean, 'it?'" We all suddenly heard the screams and cries of people down by the entrance to the village. Everybody on Shady Hill turned to look at the valley entrance; lining the crimson horizon were the dark figures of Stalfos. They were still far away, a day away from the village at their speed, but with such high numbers they looked like a swarm of ants in the distance. "Wh-What are those!?" the boss demanded. "You mean there really _was_ an army!?"

Impa was hardly interested in the Stalfos. I'd never seen her so frantic. She flung the boss to the ground and turned to the burning well, her eyes focused intently on it as if all life depended on it. "I'll deal with you later," she growled. "I must stop it from coming!" She grabbed a nearby bucket of water to pour on the well. With great haste she ran towards the well with the bucket, and was about to throw water onto the flames, when I stepped in front of her. "Link, what are you doing!?" she demanded incredulously.

"I'm sorry, Impa," I said quietly, struggling to ask myself why I was doing this. It just felt..._right_. "I can't let you stop it." I tried to keep telling myself Impa was my friend, but I warily held my Master Sword out in front of her, tip of the blade pointed at her heart. Maybe it was the goddesses telling me something, and I was just unconsciously reacting to it. Whatever the case, I somehow just would not let her pass.

Impa froze, shaking her head in despair. "No..." she uttered softly, so quietly that I almost didn't hear her. "Not you too..."

There was a sudden rumbling behind me. I spun around as Impa cried, "It's here!" The whole Shady Hill shook as dirt and plants were flung into the air, together with everything else smaller than a table. Buildings all around me began to burst into flames until the entire hill was on fire. The windmill rattled. Windows shattered. Kakariko Village had been flung into chaos. The epicenter of the madness came from the well right in front of me. "Link, Shiek, get away from the well!"

Both of us dashed away from the well as a column of purple fire erupted from its water and created a great hole in the hill. Impa stared up at the sky in sheer horror and started running towards the graveyard. I tried to see what she was looking at, but could see nothing. Shiek tugged at my arm. "Link, hurry! Do as I told you, before it's too late!" I nodded and whipped out my ocarina and the paper I was given. Reading the notes by the light of the fire, I madly played the Prelude of Light. The last thing I saw before being carried away in yellow light was Shiek being hit on the back of his head by something I couldn't see and falling to the ground.

-

Never before had I felt such urgency. The calm silence of the Temple of Time did little more than mock me. How could things be so calm when Kakariko was falling to pieces nearby? Something interrupted the teleportation of the song, and I fell a foot onto the floor instead of landing gracefully on it.

"Link?" a familiar voice chirped.

"Navi!?" I gasped. Sure enough, my beloved fairy companion fluttered above me once again. "What happened to you?"

"Don't you remember?" Navi sounded surprised that I didn't know. "We got lost in the forest. I kept calling you, and you never answered. You haven't been yourself lately, Link."

I bowed my head. "I know, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I forgive you."

"But how'd you get here?"

"I eventually made my way to the new Deku Tree. He said I'd be able to find you here. It's a long way; I've only just arrived!"

I nodded, but there wasn't a moment to lose. "Navi, follow me. Something terrible has happened in Kakariko Village, and if we don't act now the Hylians and Shiekhah will suffer the same fate as the Zoras!"

"What!?"

I ran down the golden-and-white grand hall of the temple and through a small tunnel called the Door of Time. On the other side was a large, spacious, circular room with an altar in the center. Atop the altar was a small stone with a hole for the Master Sword: The Pedestal of Time. "Navi, I don't know what's going to happen," I quickly explained, "but I'm going to have to return the Master Sword." Without another second I thrust the Master Sword into the stone. The moment the sword reached the bottom, a wave of fatigue came over me. I stumbled a little dizzily, and felt the cold, hard marble floor as I collapsed. Everything faded away into darkness and sleep overcame me.

* * *

**A Note from the Author: **This chapter was actually quite frustrating to write, especially the part in the forest; that, coupled with the fact that I've been working on and off this story over the past week or so, may mean that there might be some weak spots here and there. If you write a review (which, for the record, would be highly, highly, highly appreciated and would be read thoroughly), please be sure to include what you thought were the best points and what bits you thought you could do without. The beginning may be revised in the future with those points in mind.

On the other hand, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and stay tuned for the next one! Reviews are always a very nice gift that I appreciate, read, and respond to, so don't be shy!


	2. The Truth

**A Note from the Author:** Sorry for the long wait on this one. I had very little time to work on it while we were in South Africa, though I suppose in the end I did manage to get the whole first half of this done while I was in Cape Town and didn't get much time after _then. _I still have many reviews to respond to (thank you!), but you can rest assured that I have at least already read every single one of them. Anyway, though, this is a gem of a chapter, though at first I didn't care for it, and it has had a lot of work put into it, with some phrases dating back even to July, while others having been just written this morning as I re-read the chapter and added some finishing touches. So please enjoy, and don't forget to review when you are done (please)!

Zelda stuff (c) Nintendo  
Original stuff (c) Me

* * *

**Part II ~ The Truth**

An ominous silence surrounded me, wrapped around me like a cool shell that blocked out every little sound that could ever be uttered. Everything was so...quiet. It was as if all the horrors, all the excitement, the rush, the deaths, were all a distant memory. In the black, mute void, brought by nothing but my own shut eyes, it seemed absurd that King Zora had died just a few days ago, right before me, or that Darunia was nearly devoured by a dragon a week before that, or that Saria had almost been sent to oblivion by a ghost. It seemed ridiculous that an army could invade Kakariko any second. How could anything happen in such peace? I wondered, was this what it was like before the madness that was this campaign began? I could hardly remember now how life felt before Navi came to me and the Deku Tree died. I hoped that it had been like this. It really was wonderful.

I was lying on my stomach; I rolled over onto my back because my nose was feeling rather squished. I didn't lift my head, though. The cold, smooth tile was so comfortable, I might have chosen it over a bed. After all I had been through, a good night's sleep was really all I had needed...hey! I was asleep! Kakariko could already have...

Idiot! What was I doing sleeping!? My eyes shot open, and with a jolt I scrambled to my feet, almost slipping on the stark white tile as I rose. It was easier than I expected to stand; after that nap I felt light as a feather, and my center of balance was so off-set that I wobbled for a moment just trying not to tumble back down. When I finally stabalized, I had to draw my arm to my eyes to shield them from the bright glare of the temple, the light from the many giant windows in the room reflecting off the tile and straight into my gaze. As soon as my eyes adjusted, though, they widenned. Instead of the ghostly white covering my arm that I had come to adjust to, I found myself looking at soft, yellow-peach skin, dully reflecting the same heavenly light beaming in from the windows. My arm and, as I soon discovered, my other arm and hands were completely bare. Peering down, my leggings were gone too, and my legs were just as bare as my arms. "Navi, did I miss something?" I demanded, wondering whether I should be more concerned with myself or with Kakariko. The moment I spoke, I gasped and clutched my neck; my voice was so high! Yet on examination, my throat felt alright...

"Link!" Navi gawked, bouncing up and down in front of me. She had still been asleep, until my voice woke her, and now she was staring at me with great surprise on her tiny face. "You're... You're a _child_ again!"

"What?" I examined as much of myself as I could, and she was right. From my lighter (if slightly less muscular--slightly) arms to my just-starting-puberty un-mentionables, I was seven years younger. "Talk about witchcraft," I groaned. "Or, on a far more rational scale..." I glanced suspiciously back at the Master Sword, sparkling in the sun's rays, clutched tightly by the Pedestal of Time. "Do you think putting the sword back took us back to before my coma?" Hah! That actually sounded more irrational than the possibility a spell had been cast on me. Time travel; that was a ridiculous concept, right?

Navi took a moment to think, the wheels in her itty bitty head whirring like a waterwheel, then nodded her itty bitty head. "That's what it looks like."

I shook my head half-heartedly. "Yeah," I chuckled edgily, "but that's impossible, right?"

"Well," my fairy companion offered, "this _is_ the Temple of Time. Nayru's blessing isn't stronger anywhere else but Labyrinna. If there was anywhere in the country that it could happen, it's here, right?"

I scratched my head under my now-green hat, feeling my silky blond hair part wherever my fingers touched. My brain certainly was in the here-and-now, post-coma, Ganondorf's-gonna-get-ya time period, whether I was in the past or not. I could still remember all that had happened in the future. On top of things, I could still comprehend those complicated subjects that I could never figure out before the coma, like the ideas of love, remorse, and responsibility. "Strange," I muttered, half to myself and half to Navi. "I still _think_ like an adult... But then again, I never got much far from talking like a kid anyway. So I suppose I was a kid in adult's shoes, and now I'm an adult in kid's shoes." I shrugged. "Confusing."

As my senses woke up the veil of silence lifted, and I suddenly became aware of a haunting tinkling in my ear, every note rattling my brain as if, despite it being very quiet, it were louder than thunder. The melody wasn't sad, nor truly spooky... Yet, without words, it sung of the night, of darkness, and of the uncertainty of things to come. I struggled to place what the sound was coming from; and then it hit me like a Megaton Hammer. "Navi," I exclaimed, "is that a...a clinker?" I ran out of the chamber and into the main hall of the Temple of Time. Sure enough, against the back corner of the was a large, black table standing on three legs. Behind it sat a Hylian, pushing down small white things Saria called "keys." By pushing down the keys, a tinkling sound came out of a small gap on the top of the table. I thought it was a pretty nifty device; we didn't have any clinkers in Kokiri Forest, but one of the newer Skull Kids was able to play a small one that he got lost with. I saw these bigger ones when I first arrived in Zora's Domain; there had been a Zora playing a song he called "Ballad of the Wind Fish" on it. The Hylian sitting behind the clinker was a thin, frail woman who appeared to be in her fifties. She was almost deathly pale, and seemed so involved in her playing that she hadn't even noticed me. "Hello?" I requested, sinking back when my voice boomed through the temple, not truly loud at all but magnificently louder than the clinker. "What day is it, do you know?" I added in a whisper.

The woman barely gave me notice. "The day of darkness," she stated flatly, her tone ominous and cold. She spoke with such a voice that she sounded like a messanger of the gods, somebody wiser than any mere Hylian, yet a mortal like everybody around her. Her words, voice, and appearance all mixed then and there to send shivers up my spine, and she became less of a Hylian in my eyes and more of a phantom of warning, like the three ghosts in the Christmas Carol, a story Saria used to read to me. "The day where we go from good to evil. That is what today is." That seemed to be all she cared to say, but when I gave her a questioning look she continued. She spoke slowly, as if she had given up hope and was just lamenting, and she never looked up from the keys. "Trouble is brewing in Hyrule. The Princess and Impa have fled to I-don't-know-where. Gerudo women have invaded Hyrule Castle. We're all fine in town, but, I ask you, how long shall that last? The goddesses have left us to the Dragmire Clan, we have little hope left. I am taking my final days before moving to Kakariko to play my beloved piano."

I peeked around the clinker and saw she had no sheet music. "What are you playing?"

The temple seemed to get a degree colder. "The anthem of the Shiekhah," the woman answered, "the Nocturne of Shadow. It sings about how death and life go hand-in-hand, and how they must preserve that balance with their souls. Most of all, it sings of the House of the Dead, where all the royal blood of Hyrule is said to have been stored. Neither good nor evil, the House of the Dead is the final resting place of Hylian kings. In the song, the Shiekhah call out to the House of the Dead to give them guidance when they have lost their way."

I recalled Shiek giving me a paper with the Nocturne of Shadow. Feeling in my pocket with my hand, I found I still had it. Shiek had said she didn't know where the nocturne would take me. Perhaps this strange woman knew? "And does it give them guidance?"

The woman did not answer directly. "A plague of darkness looms over Kakariko, you know. It has, for years. It has always been the last place in the day to be touched by light. Moving there, I fear, shall force me to sell my soul to its curse like so many others before me. You seem puzzled, child? Nobody is the same after moving to Kakariko. The gods abandon them, allowing them to be led by darkness instead of light. Perhaps the House of the Dead holds the answer, the key to shine holy light onto these dark creatures. It is a temple, a temple to command the shadows and keep them in check."

Bingo. "Where _is_ the House of the Dead?"

"Only the Shiekhah knew. The Nocturne of Shadow's end encourages them to seek the house, but never to reveal its location to outsiders." The woman stopped playing her clinker and rose. She towered over me; I really realized how short I was in that moment, or at least how tall she was. She stared down at me suddenly like I was vermin, and her body took a protective stance. "Why are you so curious about the Temple of Shadow?" she demanded fiercely all of the sudden, looking deep into my eyes as if searching for something. "Have you been cursed by the plague too?"

I was taken aback. "No, ma'am." What was she babbling on about?

"Get out!" she cried, flinging her arm in the air. "Get out of the Temple of Light! Light has no patience for darkness! Away, being of shadow, before I call the exorcist!"

"Ma'am, I'm not a--"

"Don't lie!" she screeched, flinging an arm out to seize me. I narrowly dodged away from her grasp. "I can see it! There's darkness, all around you! Get away, before you doom us all!" There was no stopping her. It was scary, and it wasn't because I was seven years younger. I ran out of the Temple of Time, from her and her clinker. I didn't know what she was talking about, but somehow, it really made me worry... And anyway, I had business to attend to. I had to pay a visit to the owner of the Kakariko Windmill. As I crossed through Hyrule Castle Town, awing at how it was still bustling despite the danger (and possessing the dark knowledge that perhaps within days it would be a bloodbath), I saw a Zora, alive and well. And suddenly I knew I was home.

-

I was immediately overwhelmed by the sweet smells of violets and loosestrifes and the obnoxious hum of countless bees. The combination of the two gave me an odd, bitter taste in my mouth. Kakariko Village was instantly recognizable by the massive amounts of purple, aromatic flowers in the gardens and windowsills of every house on every street. Even the arch signalling the entrance was surrounded by flowers with such a strong scent that it quickly made you wish you were somewhere else. A lot of things made you feel that way in Kakariko--it wasn't known by Hylians as the queerest place to live in the entire kingdom for nothing. In a way, walking across the bridge and into Kakariko Valley was like stepping into a new world. Built by the now-extinct Shiekhah long ago, the village was loosely cluttered with a charismatic and colorful array of buildings too few in number to possibly house a single family per home out of the booming population. The quirky style of the architecture mirrored the assortment of strange people who owned them. Each with their own charming eccentricities, everybody had a story.

There was Anju the Cuckoo Breeder, the woman who would meet me seven years later on a bench. Though she talked non-stop about her poultry livestock and never let them out of her sight, Anju happened to be highly allergic to the very Cuckoos she worked with. When they escaped, which they did often because low wooden fences don't hold in flying animals very well, she was utterly and completely helpless at catching them. One touch, and she'd break out in hives. This meant she often looked to her fellow villagers for help, and almost the entire village had heard of the Cuckoo breeder who should have been a hotel clerk. Anju was a very grateful person, however, and helping her never left one empty-handed.

Professor Shikashi, who taught at a university in Hyrule Castle Town, had his home in Kakariko as well. His subject was Vraiology, or the study of Shiekhahs and their history, so he was well-informed on Kakariko's past. On weekends he'd stroll about the village, eagerly cornering individuals and imposing his knowledge onto them. Waved off as an old man who didn't know what he was talking about, only a few people took him seriously in the village. Those who did, however, hailed him as a genius, and he was indeed known throughout Hyrule, Holodrum, and Labyrinna for his superior wisdom as a vraiologist. In his spare time, he was also said to study the "Lost Race," the Twili, who were said to worship Majora as their patron diety before they mysteriously vanished. Skeptics wish Professor Shikashi would disappear mysteriously too.

Another lively character was Guru-Guru, owner of Kakariko Village's most prominent feature: the Kakariko Windmill. Said to be linked with the supernatural, the windmill could be seen from anywhere in the village, high up on the hill overlooking the Kakariko Graveyard. Guru-Guru happened to be a skilled and devoted organ grinder--his main source of income--but was a very poor and equally devoted music composer. He'd sit up in his windmill day and night, just trying to come up with a song about his windmill that went "around and around and around." There were rumors around town though that Guru-Guru, like the Happy Mask Salesman I came to dread in Hyrule Castle Town, was manic and quickly went from jolly and musical to a sour, furious, begrudged demon to be feared. He was the fellow I was supposed to meet; yikes.

The loudest mouth in Kakariko was a man who I knew only as the Carpenter. He and his armada of carpenters were in charge of the construction of any new buildings or any repair of old ones in town. His many workers typically slacked off, and it wasn't unusual to hear him loudly scolding them somewhere nearby. When I went into my coma, the carpenters were working on a brick building in front of Shady Hill; when I woke up seven years later, I discovered it was an extension of the Archery Shooting Gallery set up in Hyrule Castle Town.

The Carpenter had a son, Grogg, who I'd only seen at night. He was a shady sort of character, and was so skinny you could have called him a Stalfos. The irony was that seven years later, an unfortunate visit to the Lost Woods would truly turn him into one. Though he was a very depressing person to listen to, Grogg had a few friends; they were, however, just as shady as he was.

Speaking of shady folks, there was nobody more suspicious than the village's #1 wanted man: Blind, a masterful thief who always pulled his jobs at night because his sensitive eyes couldn't see in the daylight. Blind's hideout was somewhere in the village; it was sometimes said that he had the ability to hide in another dimension, while others said he hid in Kakariko Well. Though nobody has actually set eyes on Blind--let alone me--he always left a calling card whenever he stole something (I say "he," but in all honesty, he was just as likely a woman as he was a man). Nobody ever went out at night in Kakariko Village; with all the frightful stories about Blind, I wouldn't either.

The mayor of Kakariko Village was none other than Impa, last of the Shiekhah. She was a tall, imposing figure whose voice was loud, firm, and never questioned. Despite her rather intimidating appearance, with her bulky muscles, great height, and rather frightening attire, Impa had a heart of gold. Kakariko Valley used to be the exclusive home of the Shadow Folk until Impa opened Kakariko Village up to the outside world following her people's extinction. She seldom frequented Kakariko nowadays, being Princess Zelda's au pair, but in seven years' time she'd be a village hero.

Or at least, that's what I'd like to say. Seeing Kakariko now, it seemed so hard to believe that in seven years, the people would turn against Impa and cause the whole village to come to the brink of extinction. Impa tried to be a hero; she tried to save Kakariko. It was a shame it all had to go wrong. But not even I could have predicted it (until now).

Kakariko was built in such an incline that no matter which fence one looked past, all one could see were far away hills and the Dragon Roost Mountains, with the prime exceptions of Impa's manor and the Kakariko Windmill, which were both built higher up than the rest of the town. Making use of the enclosing mountains, every structure in the village was built out of brick and stone. They were so unworldly that they looked like something out of a children's pop-up book. Crooked and quite spooky in the shadows, the only thing they had in common was their violet roofs--purple was a very common theme in Kakariko Village, before the days of Ganon's rule. The unique buildings were a common tourist attraction, or so I heard; because it was the only remaining Shiekhah village, it was the only place left in the world to see the disturbing Shiekhah architecture. Walls were painted with red markings like bloodstains, engraved with screaming faces, and some were decorated with murals depicting voracious eyes and body-less hands strangling the Shiekhah with twisting strings, as if they were puppets doomed to be destroyed. But the paintings always ended with a valiant Shiekhah man sending the eyes and hands down into a hole in the ground much like water going down a toilet. I didn't know what to make of it, and quite frankly nobody could (except for Impa, of course, but she wasn't one to tell secrets). Eyes were almost as common in decorations as purple was in colors; they were everywhere, whether they were painted on walls or printed on signs or simply an arrangement of buildings that, if viewed from above, which was always possible in Kakariko, resembled an eye. It was impossible not to feel like I was being watched. But who--or what--was watching? I didn't want to know.

Looking up, the sky was a patchwork of blues and whites, drifting above the Dragon Roost Mountains long past their welcome. The warm morning brought with it a nipping sense of urgency, shadows so well-defined that there was no room for grey error. I had no idea whether a delay in the past would affect the future, but I didn't want to take the chance. When a beaver in the Lost Woods gnaws a tree, does it consider whether or not the tree will fall on it?

King Hyrule's plight had fallen on deaf ears in Kakariko. Business was as usual, and there was a happiness that I truly had missed after awakening from my coma. Children were playing in the streets, parents were outside doing laundry, roadside salespeople were calling advertisements to people in horse-drawn carraiges, and of course nobody got within three yards of the lonely House of Skulltula, because it was viewed as bad luck to get close to it. As I paced through the dark shadows of the village, keeping on the sidewalk to avoid the many carraiges passing by with their giant eye insignias burned into their sides, I once again looked over the paper Shiek had given me. "Play the Prelude of Light;" I had done that bit. Next thing to do was play the Song of Storms for Guru-Guru. Something special was supposed to happen, if memory served.

It wasn't too hard to find the Kakariko Windmill, which loomed over the rooftop of every house and store like an owl keeping an eye on its prey. It wasn't hard to know a few facts about the windmill; there wasn't a postcard in Kakariko that didn't picture it, and there were so many informational booklets on it that it wasn't at all difficult for me to pick one up to look at while ascending the winding road up Shady Hill to the dark castle. On one hand, the windmill was the marvelous pride of the people of Kakariko, a masterful work of engineering that pumped water out of the Kakariko Well and into the plumbing system of every house in the village, guarunteeing clean, pure water for all. On the other hand, its ominous shadow eclipsed the entire village at sunset, inducing Kakariko with dark, chilly evenings so cold that you could see your own breath. A great eye, the largest in all the village, was painted on its conical roof, spying on the villagers throughout eternity. It was thought by some to be linked closely to the graveyard behind it on the same hill, and sightings of Poes on Halloween around the windmill have been reported since Impa opened the village to Hylians. Nobody actually ever entered the windmill except for Guru-Guru, though on one occasion the Happy Mask Salesman was seen leaving the windmill carrying a bizarre mask shaped like a bird. Many legends roamed Hyrule, whispering about mysterious, dark secrets hiding in the windmill's rafters; even the Skull Kids remembered some rumors, though they never made their way to _my_ ear.

Apart from the powerful gusts of wind that made Shady Hill such an ideal place for a windmill, everything was quiet as I climbed the old stone steps toward the windmill's door. To my right, the mossy, ancient slabs of stone lining the outer hull of the windmill echoed the sounds of my boots tapping against the stairs. How old, I wondered, was the windmill? As old as the Temples of Power? Some Skull Kids whispered of a temple to the north of Hyrule Castle, atop Gale Mountain in the Snowpeak Mountains. There was one rumor about the windmill, actually, that I not only heard but, now looking at the windmill, could believe. The windmill was said to be constructed out of the same stone as the purported Wind Temple, blessed by the gods Zephos and Cyclos, whom which the windmill was believed to be a shrine for. The windmill's turbine, as the rumor continued, was made of the same strange metal as the fans inside the Wind Temple were. Looking at the Kakariko Windmill, I could see how foreign the stones were compared to the rest of the village's buildings. The windmill was a special place indeed, though the extent of which I could never have imagined and would continue to disbelieve for years to come. Opening the rickety old wooden door at the top of the stairs was like opening the door to a world of forbidden magic. There was no stepping back, and the road ahead was blacker than a moonless night.

I felt an unending chill the moment I shut the door. I shivered, now regretting my lack of heavy clothing instead of awing at it. Such a cold place... My nose tickled me relentlessly until I had no choice but to sneeze. The sound echoed over and over again off the dark, antique walls. Closing my mouth left me with a foul, dry taste in my mouth as if I had just devoured a plate-load of wood chips that had just spent a week in Zora's Domain seven years in the future. Light was blockaded by the door, and the darkness was broken only by the small cracks in the wood. What sort of man could exist in such a gloomy place, devoid of anything remotely cheerful?

But then it came. Focusing so much on my other senses, I had neglected my hearing. But as my brain got used to the unneighborly cold and the inhospitable taste and smell of wood, I gradually began to hear the relentless churning of thousands of gears, cogs, and wooden axels, scratching each other as they spun. The sound of wood scratching against wood was one I never enjoyed, and I was quickly finding this windmill to be the most repulsive place I had ever set foot in. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the unsavory machinery became increasingly visible, as if the creaking, screeching noise was nothing but a greeting from a rude host. The wood was visibly rotting, and it wouldn't be long before its decay pushed it into disuse; perhaps another eight years would do the trick?

As absurd as it sounds that this was not the first thing for me to notice, the final thing to come to my attention was the music. A small, short, revolving melody, repeating over and over until it made me dizzy, resonated throughout the windmill as if they were one in the same. It bounced off the axel, the walls, even my own skin, until it certainly seemed to play over itself and every note was struck at the same time. It spun with the woodworks, completely in tempo, never missing a beat. Both haunting and strangely fitting, I found myself stumbling dazedly and shivering at the same time.

As I drew closer to the giant, spinning wheel at the bottom of the axel, a small man came into view. Lurking in the darkest shadow in the entire windmill, he was hunched over virtually like a hunchback. In his hands he held a medium-sized box with a lever coming out one side and a large cone spinning out of the top. With one hand he held the box; with the other, he cranked the lever. It was from this strange device that the music came. The man seemed absorbed by his song, and did not pay any attention to me as I approached him. His bearded, otherwise-bald face stared up at the ceiling, eyes shut, and his mind seemed to be far from reality. Thanks to the rather-loud conversations in town, I knew who he was before I even spoke to him, though I didn't want to believe it: he was Guru-Guru, the owner of the windmill that I mentioned before.

I shuffled in my pocket and pulled out the paper Shiek had given me. It was hard to read it, requiring me to read off of Navi's light and the light from the door, but I gradually realized the song I was to play, the "Song of Storms," almost identically matched his song--just without the strange second melody that turned the beautiful first melody into a sour pile of musical garbage. I cleared my voice; he still didn't notice me. "Um, excuse me?" I yelled over the music. "Are you Guru-Guru?"

"...around and around and around and around. My song must go around and around, around and around and around. Around around around around--"

"Hello? Mr. Guru-Guru?" I waved my hand in front of his face.

"--around around around around around around--"

"HELLO!?" I shouted.

Guru-Guru's eyes shot open, his blood-red eyes nearly glowing in the shadows. His face started turning red, and he grinded his organ faster than a Goron rolling down a flat, steep slope. "Stupid dumb children, may Majora rip apart your souls! How dare you interrupt me, I should curse you and all those like you, may the gods desert you, may everybody desert you, stupid foul lousy filthy rotten children!!!!!" he screamed. His voice had been so quiet moments before, it seemed impossible that somebody could have such a mood change. I backed off. "Away with you!!!!"

My hands shaking, I hastily rose the ocarina to my lips and played the song on the paper. I was right; it was virtually like Guru-Guru's first melody, albeit with nicer notes that weren't flat. Guru-Guru stopped playing and stared at me, stunned and nearly speechless. "You... You played my song? The... The Song of Storms?"

I couldn't reply. The windmill rumbled and shook, as if the whole place was coming down. There was an ear-splitting crack that ripped across the air. It sounded like the roof of a wooden house being split in two, or a wooden mast of a large galleon cracking off its base and tumbling into raging waters. "The windmill!" I screamed, "It's coming down!"

"No," growled Guru-Guru, grinding his teeth furiously. "It's a thunderstorm! You've caused it, you monster! You're ruining my song with those blasted changes, look what you've done!"

I dashed outside and suddenly found myself pouring wet. "I...did _this_!?" I exclaimed with a gasp. The sky was covered in the blackest of clouds, and bright purple lightning flashed in the air, illuminating those accursed eyes all around town. Purple... It was like fire. I was briefly reminded of the chaos of Kakariko seven years in the future, but was knocked back into the present when the ground rumbled, and before my eyes the dark water in the Kakariko Well beneath the windmill began to lower, until the water level was so low I could no longer see it. In that short moment, I realized where it was I would have to investigate to fulfill Shiek's instructions. Part of me wished I could go somewhere else, somewhere safe, to leave all these troubles behind. Another part, though, was called by the well, and wanted only to descend its rusty ladder. I had no choice but to surrender.

-

The bottom of the well was almost pitch-black. Even Navi's light seemed to be absorbed by the impenetrable darkness. The echo of the countless raindrops pounding the damp stone was so loud that it could have been mistaken for wind howling through a dark pipe. As I hopped off the ladder, which had proved to be absurdly long (not to mention slippery from the rain), I wiped the water and silt off my bare hands, not used to direct contact with the environment after having done so much with gauntlets. The only light of any significance, the light beaming down from the top of the well whenever lightning struck, illuminated the bottom of the well's floor. The stone floor was filthy, covered in even more grime, of which was sticky so that there was a sickening slurping sound whenever I pulled my boots off the floor. I stuck my tongue out and groaned in disgust as a foul, musty, putrid smell rose into my nostrils. Even where we were now, the pouring rain I had created continued to pound down onto us with such quantity that I had to lower my head to allow myself to breathe without sucking rainwater into my lungs like a glass of water. My clothes were soaking wet, and it was no different than if I had jumped into Lake Hylia fully dressed in my Kokiri Tunic and never dried myself afterwards. My boots, with no leggings to seal them, were beginning to fill up with rain, and I was sure that my sockless feet, trapped in my boots (for I certainly would not remove them and set them down on the slimey, mucky floor), would be lost to pnemonia in a few hours. I wanted to be anywhere but down there at that moment. "Down here is the supposed 'truth,' Navi," I reminded my companion distastefully, spitting out the raindrops that rolled like a waterfall into my mouth as soon as it opened. "I guess we should figure out what this 'truth' is and how it can help us." Whatever the truth was, I hoped we'd find it soon. All the same, though, I hoped it would stop raining before we had to climb back out of the well; it was a slippery nightmare descending the wet, round, metal bars without falling, but in such weather it would be suicide to climb back up. Navi only nodded to my words, huddling inside my dripping tunic collar in a vain attempt to avoid being pounded by the rain drops; she looked cold and frightened--quite frankly, I was cold and frightened too. We both shivered in the damp gloom for a few minutes, allowing our eyes to adjust to the darkness. As they did, we both gasped. A long tunnel of carved stone stretched out from where we stood and into the earth surrounding the well. "Navi, there's something down here," I whispered. There was a quiet moaning sound echoing out of the tunnel, drowned out by pitter-patter of torrential rain and the slurping and sloshing of the water being drained deeper in the tunnel by the windmill. I couldn't tell exactly what it was saying, or if it was saying anything at all, but it sounded a lot like a "Beware." I had no choice, though; it was obvious we were meant to go down the tunnel, no matter where it led us. "Come on, Navi," I nudged. "You first."

It was a great relief to get out of the rain in the beginning; but the filth continued down the tunnel and the cold, stuffy air combined with my drenched, drippy, sloshing clothes quickly turned the experience right back into a horrid one. My boots were half full, my feet partially underwater, and the sound they made when they fell onto the sticky slime coating the floor, coupled with the horrendous feeling of suction as I yanked my boots back out of the slime while trying not to lose them and only pull my foot up, not to mention the atrocious stench that swarmed my nostrils in droves whenever I even tried to take in a tiny breath, was so wretched that it made the inside of Jabu-Jabu's stomach seem like a clean, polished palace tended to by an army of high-work-ethic, insomniac, energetic, perfectionist, obsessive-compulsive, clean-freak maids that worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no breaks, and which's voracious diet consisted only of grime and sludge, so that they cleaned when they ate. At first the tunnel seemed to be an empty abyss, going on for what felt like mile after repulsive mile. Where was it leading us, and why did it go so deep? I found myself repeating these questions, hoping that we weren't condemning ourselves to wander the god-forsaken well for eternity. But eventually Navi's light illuminated something pale against the wall. "Link, I think I found something!" she called, her voice echoing off of the stone walls as the sound travelled down the corridor. I slowly shuffled through the mud we were standing in (which, I must add, reached almost up to the top of my boots) towards the pale object to get a better look, and as I did there was a crunching sound. "Uh-oh," Navi whispered. I gulped and bent down to look at the object, and sure enough, it was a skeleton. Navi turned green, though whether it was from a discovery or from disgust I couldn't tell. "Link, it's saying something to me," she explained with a tremulous voice.

I rose an eyebrow and looked at the bone pile's skull warily. "What is it saying?" I asked nervously.

"It says... 'The mysteries of the Shadow Folk... I ventured down here for glory, but I died for the truth, and could not find the answers... Beware the creature within...'"

"That doesn't sound good," I mumbled. The bones were almost browning in age, and they crumbled as soon as I laid a finger on them. Perhaps the warning was an old one. I stood up and wiped my hands on my shorts, both to get the mud on my finger off and to get the dust from the crumbled bones off my shorts. "Let's carry on, Navi," I sighed. "We don't know how long this tunnel is; I want to get out of here as soon as possible." She nodded.

There were more bones the deeper we traveled. We passed by large wooden crosses with chains hanging from their ends and pools of old blood coating the floor beneath them. Blood was splattered on the walls even further in, and soon the foul smell of rotting flesh filled our nostrils even more than the filth did. The moaning began again, though this time it seemed to come from the floor. I don't know how many hours passed as we sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss.

I was walking at some point when there was a loud splash and my boot landed at the bottom of a shallow pool. Though the sudden plunge gave me a surprise similar to that experienced when taking a step forward and discovering you are on a staircase, I figured we'd hit water sooner or later, so continued to trudge onwards, albeit repeating to myself desperately that the water was less filthy than the rest of the well and trying not to consider what diseases I might get afterward. As I waded through the pool, though, it became harder and harder to lift my legs. As I reached the end of the pool--or at least, what my eyes told me was the end, I sploshed one newly re-drenched boot onto shore and started pulling my other leg out when it stopped and wouldn't come out. I suddenly felt something cold and clammy wrapping itself around my skin and pulled again; however, my leg still wouldn't come out. That was when I looked down, and I let out a scream. A dark, decaying hand was sticking out of the bottom of the pool, and was dragging me down into the water. It's grip was so strong that when I yanked my leg over and over again I still found myself sinking back towards the water, from which the moaning was coming from. "Join us," the moaning said. "Join us."

"Help, Navi!" I cried, desperately struggling with my leg without success, and watching in horror as another hand reached out for my other leg.

"Link, your sword!" Navi instructed.

I tried swinging my sword at them, but their arms were unharmed by my blade. "Navi, I don't want them to take me away," I sobbed, feeling the arms strengthen their grasp around my legs. "What am I going to do?"

"I don't know what else to do!" Navi answered, at a loss for any ideas.

I felt my feet slipping through the ground at the bottom of the pool. "Join us," the pool moaned, as hands reached out for my arms.

"HELP!" But I knew Navi couldn't do anything. I could feel my knees being swallowed up by the earth. Soon my head would be underwater. I struggled to pull my arms out of the hands' grasp, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get away. Another hand reached out and snatched Navi. "No, Navi!" I was waist-deep in the ground, and I quickly sucked in air before my mouth went under the water. The water was ice-cold, and seemed to drain the life right out of me. I struggled with all my might, pulling and yanking, but the hands dragged me deeper and deeper into the soil, farther and farther from the shore, until a hand rose and covered my mouth, pulling my head down, and as the wet mud began to cover my face I went limp, for I knew there was no way out. In seconds, I was lost to the world.

-

And suddenly, I was alive again, bent double-over on the cold, wet floor, coughing water out of my lungs. Navi lay beside me, behaving similarly. "Navi, are you okay?" I asked. She nodded. I felt relatively okay too, albeit a bit dizzy. I wobbled onto my feet and looked around, and was quick to note that I was in a completely different place. A great chamber surrounded me, with one end reaching out into a black expanse that extended so far into the distance that it was engulfed in such darkness you would have thought it the end of existence. From the darkness was a low rumbling sound and a clanking noise, as if the wind were struggling against chains. A bit closer to home, a ring of long, bony, pale arms with splotches of blood on them rose from the ground like sunflowers and quivered in the air, their red-clawed hands reaching up for the ceiling.

Such a curious thing, those many arms! I approached one to get a better look, sword ready in case they were dangerous. The skin on the arm I approached, on closer inspection, was decayed and clammy, as if it hadn't seen the light of day or had a breath of the living for centuries. "Zombie hands?" I asked myself, inching a little closer to get a better look in the dim light. Suddenly, the hand lashed out at me and grabbed the top of my head. "Hey, what's going on!?" I cried, searching with my hand for my sword handle to chop the arm in half. It wasn't too difficult to slice the arm, and to my relief it let go just milliseconds before being cut in two. But the moment it dropped me back onto the floor there was a loud boom, and chunks of the floor (which, on inspection, I realized to my horror was layers and layers of bones) went flying. I turned around to see a large man, bent over like a hunchback, and covered in the same skin as the arms. It had no legs--it was partly buried in the ground, like a decaying blob. Its arms were stubbly and each only had a single finger on the end, but its head was large and carried a pair of vicious jaws. Its eyes were non-existent, and there were holes where they should have been.

"Who are you?" I demanded, pointing my sword at the bizarre creature.

The creature replied in a dry, raspy voice, so that it sounded like the oldest man ever to exist, so old that he should have died, and probably did but was rejected by the gods for his oldness. With every word its skin quivered, as if it clung to its bones delicately and may have ripped off with the slightest pull. I noted the large bloodstains covering its body like spots, and the red stain on its razor-sharp teeth. "My name is of no importance in the world of the dead, young master," it answered, dust practically spewing from its throat. "You shall know me only as the Hand of the Dead, or Dead Hand, if you so prefer. I am the gatekeeper of the underworld, and it is my duty to bring those who foolishly wander here to their graves. My infinite hands pull people to their dooms."

"Did you bring me down here, then?" I demanded. "Are all these hands your's, pulling down anybody who comes here?"

Dead Hand nodded, and I noticed how his neck was impeccably long and thin, like a narrow branch. "It was all my pleasure. Your screams were delicious, heh heh heh."

There was more clanking from beyond the darkness. "And what's that sound I keep hearing, down that way?"

"That," Dead Hand explained, "is also of no importance to you; or, perhaps, it is of utmost importance. My master, Lord of the Dead, is where the light never touches. He was imprisoned here by those dreadful Shiekhah, but I loyally await here for the day he escapes and returns to his fortress." Dead Hand, I was suddenly aware, was moving closer to me at an increasingly rapid rate. There was a vicious scream of rage that emitted from the darkness, and Dead Hand paused to glance in its direction, though only for a second. "But now isn't the time to talk, young master. My master bids you welcome to the world of the dead; and he wishes you safe journey. I'm afraid we must end this conversation, young master; it is time to die."

Dead Hand immediately lunged his head forward to sink his vicious teeth into my face, but I side-stepped him and stabbed his body with my sword. Nothing happened to him; he just turned to look at me, licked his lips, and started pulling the sword into his body, closer and closer, so that I too approached him. "Do you expect to kill me, young master?" he snickered. "I apologize, but I am already dead!" I gasped and yanked my sword out of him and backed up to put some distance between he and I. Despite the obvious signs, it had slipped my mind that he was a zombie. I'd never fought a zombie before, not even the horrid things called ReDead.

"Navi," I demanded, "how do I kill something that's already dead? You can't even crumble him like a Stalfos!"

"Fire," Navi suggested. "I've never seen it in action, but in all the Kokiri stories fire gets rid of zombies. I'm sure it's worth a shot!"

"But what do I have that's fire?" I asked, just narrowly dodging another lunge.

"Have you forgotten? Din's Fire!" Oh yeah. I had used them so little, I had completely forgotten the two spells I had been taught by the Great Fairies. One, Farore's Wind, was a spell that could take me back to the entrance of any temple or cave I was in; the other, Din's Fire, was a spell that unleashed a ring of fire around me. If anything was going to work, it was Din's Fire for sure.

"Thank you, Navi," I grinned. I cupped my hands so they made a little ball. Then I swirled my hands around, tucked them by my hip, and flung them into the air. "May the energy of seasons and power give me might, bring a fireball tonight!" I recited. A great ring of fire rose from the ground and engulfed Dead Hand.

"By Majora's Wrath, what have you done!?" Dead Hand cried, writhing in the flames. "What have you done!? You cannot defy death with this witchcraft! Death cannot be defeated!" The monster began to sink into the ground, along with his many hand-stalks. "You have not escaped me!" he cried, watching in his own horror as his arms turned into ashes. "I shall return one day, mark my word, I shall return! You cannot, will not, bring death to the dead!"

I watched for a few more seconds as the last of Dead Hand fell to the bone-covered floor in ashes. His last dusty breath sifted out of his motionless nostrils and rose to the faraway ceiling. It then sank back to Navi and I, twirled around us, and collected itself on top of a particularly fearsome-looking skull. There was a dim flash of light, not at all bright enough to light up the chamber, and in the dust's place was a small purple looking glass, with a red lens that looked almost like an eye. I cautiously picked it up and looked it over. There were letters engraved on the handle, and I could read them only with Navi fluttering mere inches away from it. "'The Lens of Truth: Whom-so-ever bears this eye will be able to see beyond illusions and view only the Truth.' Ah, Navi! This must be what Shiek was talking about when he said the 'Truth!'"

"Why don't you try them out?" Navi offered. "Look through the lens and tell me what you see!"

I nodded and peered through the looking glass. All at once my eyes locked with a single, massive, red eye, so bloodshot and furious that it sent shivers down my spine. It was the most horrific thing I had ever laid eyes on, pulsing and writhing as if it itself were about to explode rivers of blood and kill everything it passed in a blind rage. I realized I was looking at the eternal darkness before us; I could see nothing there, and yet looking through the Lens of Truth I discovered there was a terrifying monster less than half a mile away from us--and that was too close. I adverted my eyes from the lens. "Navi, I don't know what I saw... But whatever it was, it was never meant to be seen. Let's go, now! We have the Lens, we need to go back to the future."

"Can we do that?"

I nodded. "Sure, I bet Nayru understands that I can't go through the coma a second time." I halted movement for a moment, wondering how we were to escape the bottom of the well, with its ferocious prisoner behind us. But then I decided Farore's Wind would do the trick. I kneeled down and flourished my hands and body into the air like a flower blooming. "May the energy of courageous secrets come into the day, show me how to find my way!" I recited. A green ball of energy materialized above us, and I felt a pulling sensation like the wind dragging us towards it. Reality bent for a moment, and when the ball vanished Navi and I were standing at the top of the well.

"A house used to stand here." I nearly jumped a foot in the air. Impa stood next to me in the cool, dark night, looking down into the well with a mixture of respect and hatred. She did not turn her head to look at me, though I knew she was speaking to me. "Blind was the owner's name; a decrepit, hunch-backed man who knew only of greed. Yes, I speak of the same criminal that is whispered of to this very day--but those are only ghost stories." Impa paused, but I dared not speak. She seemed so wise, so proud, that I instantly found it hard to come up with anything to say at all. In a way, I thought it best I not utter a single word. Acknowledging my silence, Impa continued. "He dug a tunnel beneath his house," she explained, "believing there to be riches beyond belief. He was never seen again. Eventually the old house was torn down, and we Shiekhah constructed a well in its place to help bring water to this dry land. Or at least, that's what we tell Hylians." She sighed a very deep sigh. "There was another reason, a secret reason, why my ancestors built this well. There was a monster far beneath the earth, so terrible that even Death Mountain trembled in its might. For many days after Blind's house fell, the monster, neither man nor phantom, but something in-between, brought chaos to our valley. Warrior after warrior was sent to slay the beast, but it had powers beyond comprehension, and turned them against one another. Finally, my great grandfather managed to imprison the beast back in the confining darkness of the underworld, and the well was built to contain it for eternity." Now Impa turned to look at me, and I saw her face was puzzled. "I do not know why you have come here instead of to the Temple of Time, nor why the Master Sword is not yet in your hands, but I will not question your actions. Zelda is safe, so now I must protect my people from the Dragmires and their Gerudo army. I trust that your reasons were virtuous, but I cannot allow Kakariko Well to be left open as you have left it. That creature must never escape, or the fate of the entire world may be at risk."

I nodded, shaken but awed by her brief tale. Thank goodness she hadn't asked; I think if she had questioned why Ganondorf wasn't dead yet, I wouldn't have had an answer. I should have lifted the Master Sword and saved Hyrule, but instead I was in a coma in the Light Temple. Nobody ever knew... I bowed and quietly replied, "I understand, and I thank you for allowing my reasons to remain untold." There was a painful feeling in my stomach. All that stuff that would happened in Kakariko in seven years--was it related? "But I have to tell you something, Impa; about Kakariko, I mean."

Impa shook her head and frowned. "Time is a strange thing, young swordsman. To bring knowledge from the future and reveal it in the past... The gods never meant for that to happen. I'm sure whatever you have to say is of great importance; but if it means changing the future, I must decline on your offer." My jaw dropped. How did she know? Impa quickly changed the subject. "I am sure your time must be short, Link. Whatever it is you are doing here, I urge you to hurry and seize the Sword of Evil's Bane and bring an end to Ganondorf before it is too late. I apologize, but if things are all wrapped up here, I must seal the well for good, and find a way to undo what you have done."

I nodded. "Good luck, Impa. I don't know if it will take me seconds, or even seven years, but I promise you Ganondorf will not survive."

She smiled. It was a warm, proud smile. "I am glad to hear it." Very few additional words were said--they didn't need to be, everything was settled then and there.

Impa and I parted ways, she to seal the Kakariko Well, and I to return to the Temple of Time. I wouldn't see her for seven long years after that moment, at least if you ignore time travel, and it wouldn't be until Kakariko's fate came into question that we'd cross paths again. It was to that moment that I now had to return; for better or worse, the Lens of Truth would bring me to the House of the Dead, where my gut feeling said the solution to Impa's plight lurked in wait. What I'd find there, not even I could have imagined. But wherever I stepped, since that fateful night, I never felt alone. I'd wake from my coma, travel Hyrule, and wind up in Kakariko, but something would forever follow me, lingering in the shadows wherever I stepped, and no matter how much I struggled, it never let go. It all started with the well.

* * *

**A Note from the Author: **I love some of the sensory details in the well; those were some of the ones I added this morning. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm quite excited to write the final one as soon as I can. Please don't forget to write a review, I read and respond to every one I get.


	3. The House

**A Note from the Author:** _Finally_, I can safely say I have finished Rising Puppetmaster. This story has had so many frustrating parts to write, it is a miracle I was able to finish it; and yet, there are so many great moments in it that it was all worthwhile. I am pleased to present you with the final part of the story; it has its messy spots, but I'm sure you'll be as satisfied as I am when you're all done. Do be warned that this chapter is significantly longer than the other two parts.

Reviews are incredibly appreciated, and I promise to read and reply to every single one. Please review when you are done!

Un-original stuff (c) Nintendo  
Original stuff (c) Me

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**Part III – The House**

Somebody was waiting for me as I crossed the main hall of the Temple of Time to the Pedestal. She sat on the altar holding the Spiritual Stones with her legs crossed and arms folded, awaiting my appearance patiently and quietly. As soon as I got close, she rose. The woman was tall and slender, with blue hair that flowed towards the floor like a soothing waterfall, and with eyes so azure they rivaled the Zora Sapphire. The air seemed to glow around her, and the moonlight shining through the windows, the only light in the temple, focused on her like a spotlight. A warm, motherly smile crossed her lips as I approached. She was beautiful, illuminated in the rays of the moon like a night flower. "Welcome, Hero of Time," she cooed, her voice quieter than the trickling of a brook. "I think you and I need to talk."

I honestly didn't mind the concept of conversing with the diva, but I hadn't the slightest clue who she was. "I agree," I nodded, "though I don't know why. May I ask who you are?" I had to look up to see her; she towered over me.

"I am Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom and Oracle of Ages," she whispered back. I took a step back in awe; pleasant awe, but awe nonetheless. One of the goddesses, sovereigns of the gods, was standing right before my eyes! "Farore, my sister, has been watching you for the longest time, my child. I've been informed you've been quite the time traveler recently." I nodded, still at a lack of words in the divine siren's presence. "And you plan now to return to the time you departed," she continued, her voice equatable only to the singing of a flock of songbirds on a bright spring day. "How do you expect to do that? Will you exist alongside yourself as your body rests in a coma? It is there, in the Light Temple, at this very moment. I could take you there personally," she offered. I didn't respond. "Or, we could work out a deal, so that you don't have to waste time sitting in the temple for seven years. Interested?" I nodded.

"Do you...um, want something, or...?"

"Precisely," she grinned, clasping her hands and lacing her fingers in front of her face. "You have something that belongs to me, young hero. It is an instrument; do you know which instrument I speak of?"

"The...the Ocarina of Time?"

"Oh, you are a clever one, aren't you? That's exactly what I need. I don't want it right now, but if, when your endeavor is finished and your job is done, I would appreciate it if you were to return that instrument to my temple, where it belongs. Is that too hard to manage?" I shook my head. "That's a good boy," she smiled. "In return for your pledge, I'll take you back to your time immediately when you take the sword from the pedestal. It will be as if this whole trip back in time was a dream, though certainly not unproductive."

I blinked. "Gosh, I... Could you do that?"

Nayru nodded, and I gulped. By her own harp, she was beautiful. "The pedestal will be a door to the future, a window to the past. By replacing the Master Sword you shall be taken back seven years; by taking it, you shall jump forward seven years. Is it a deal?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, definitely. You are very kind, Nayru."

There was a slight laugh to her voice. "The same can be said to you, young hero. But it must feel strange to be back in the body of a child, after so many years and so many hardships?"

I rubbed the back of my head under my hat. "Actually," I replied, "I kinda like it. I _am_ a Kokiri at heart, you know—being an adult just isn't for me. So much of my life was taken away from me by the coma—for the good of Hyrule or not—that I never really got to enjoy the life I took for granted. When I took the Master Sword, I thought I was a Kokiri. I thought no matter what happened, I'd always be a kid, so I never really cherished being one."

"When this campaign is over, is that what you'd really want? The chance to live life as a child once again?"

"Is that possible? Ganondorf will have been vanquished in the future, not now; to travel back in time would only take me back to his rule."

"Time is a fickle fellow, my child. Should something happen that never should have happened, it may be willing to rewrite history should the need arise."

"You mean..."

"Yes. Should Ganondorf be vanquished, all will go back to how it was when you first picked up the Master Sword, but the King of the Gerudo and all his monsters will be gone from Hyrule. We goddesses have found that to be a suitable punishment for such a vile creature—one who misuses his blessing deserves to be forgotten in time."

I could hardly express my gratitude. I'd be able to grow up a normal (albeit Hylian) kid, free to exist without Ganon, free to spend those seven years with Saria... "I... I really appreciate all that you're planning to do, Nayru," I thanked with a bow.

"Thank Farore, young hero," Nayru corrected, with a sound of closure in her song. "She's been watching over you, not I." There was a bright blue flash, and the Goddess of Time was gone.

Eager to make use of Nayru's blessing, I hustled to the Pedestal of Time and took a deep breath. Bracing myself, I seized the hilt of the Master Sword and yanked it from its guardian. A blue light, the same light that evaporated Nayru, surrounded me, and everything went dark.

-

_Names mean nothing._

_We've about had it with Impa, don't you know? She's not doing us any good; she's with Ganondorf, you know._

_You cannot, will not, bring death to the dead!_

_That wasn't hard to deduce; I am, after all, the only Sheikah left. There is no other._

_Nobody is the same after moving to Kakariko._

_State your allegiance._

—"A-Allegiance?"

—_Everything has an allegiance._

_Why are you so curious about the Temple of Shadow? Have you been cursed by the plague too?_

—"Ma'am, I'm not a—"

—_Don't lie! I can see it! There is darkness all around you!..._

_You used to be Princess Zelda's protector! She trusted you to help put an end to this madness!_

"B-But sir, doesn't the death of our enemies get rid of them for good?"

—_Death? What do you know about death?_

"Navi, I don't want them to take me away!"

_I never should have trusted you, it's all your fault! I trusted you, Impa..._

"Sir, I side with Ganondorf!"

"I'm sorry, Impa. I can't let you stop it."

—_No... Not you too..._

-

When I woke up, I was lying on the floor once again. I rushed to my feet and quickly examined myself—I was an adult once again. "Navi," I requested, relieved to hear my deeper voice again, "are you alright?"

"I feel like a giant rupee, Link," Navi replied, hovering around my head loyally. "But now isn't the time. Do you remember what Sheik said to do now?"

I nodded. "Play the Nocturne of Shadow," I correctly answered. I pulled out my ocarina and the paper Sheik gave me. The notes I had to play were merely a small passage from the song played by the woman on the clinker seven years ago, but the effect was still present. As I played the haunting melody dictated by the paper, a purple light surrounded me, dragging me out of the Temple of Time and into the sky...

-

The loud crack of thunder forbodingly greeted me as I re-materialized. The world was black all around me, the moon blocked out by a blanket of rainclouds. Rain had not yet arrived, but its cold, hard drops were sure to fall any minute, and my stomach lurched at the thought of another downpour like the one in the well.

Thanks to the darkness, I was not completely sure where I was. Surveying the little land I could see around me, I was able, however, to at least ascertain that I was somewhere I had never been, possibly never even seen. The pull of gravity betrayed my altitude; I could understand my senses enough to know I stood on a ledge high above the ground, and by the smell of brimstone mingling with violets it was somewhere near the base of the Dragon Roost Mountains; Death Mountain was nearby. A great wooden fence closed off the edge of the ledge, so that nothing was able to ascend the cliff to reach it.

It was too dark to see beyond the fence, so instead I observed the ground around me. Thick weeds and brambles coated the ground, laced with densely packed grass thicker than in the Lost Woods. A Gossip Stone, an ancient stone spy for the Sheikah, sat watching the ledge like a guard. Its eye, the same eye that flourished in Kakariko Village, seemed to look straight into my soul, and I shivered as I turned away from it. In the direction opposite the fence was a cave tunneling into the mountain I was perched on. The cave interior was pitch-black, so I hesitated to enter it. I wanted to know where I was first.

A flash of lightning illuminated the area, and in its brief light I was able to confirm where it was that I had landed myself. The first indication I glimpsed was the altar beneath my feet—the same sort of grey platform that these songs always seemed to land me on—portraying an arrow that always seemed to point towards a Temple of Power. This one pointed toward the cave, and was decorated with a symbol I had only seen once before: In Impa's manor. The next thing I saw was a ghostly fog hanging over the ground beneath the ledge, beyond the wooden fence. Though dense, the fog was just thin enough for me to make out gravestones lined in countless rows—some larger than others—stretching out from the base of the ledge and extending all the way to a distant fence made of wooden boards, of which I could only see the top of. Obviously, I was in some sort of cemetery. What gave away my location was the last thing I witnessed. The lightning had been a ways away, behind a tower with many boards protruding from its roof. There was no mistaking its ominous image: it was the Kakariko Windmill, from the backside. I was behind Shady Hill, beyond Kakariko Village. Below me was the Kakariko Graveyard, where the Hylian Royal Family, the fallen people in Kakariko, and the Sheikah were all buried. Everything seemed to make so much sense all of the sudden; I got goosebumps as I realized it.

"You've arrived, just as he predicted." I nearly jumped a mile. As darkness fell once again, the haunting image of foggy Kakariko cloaked from view, a voice called out to me from behind. I turned around, but could see nobody. It was not until another flash crossed the sky that I discovered Impa was the bearer of the voice, standing a foot or so away from me and yet still looming ominously above me, her arms crossed and her face frowning. Her voice sounded neither pleased nor displeased, but rather uncertain on which feeling it should take. "Sheik informed me you would come, but I would have anticipated your presence all the same. It was only natural that you'd think to come here, though to be honest I never _imagined_ seven years ago that it would lead to this." I could feel a dry coldness creeping around my body. "When we last met before your coma," the Sheikah continued, "before I sealed the well... I finally understand why you traveled down there." I inhaled sharply. "Do you know where it is your body lies?" she asked suddenly. I shook my head. "It is a secret, hidden place, known only to the Sheikah. We stand atop the Doorstep to Demise. Beyond here, nestled in the mountain, sleeps the House of the Dead. It is the tomb of my ancestors, and the blood bank of the Hylian Royal Family. The temple is an encampment for the dead, the delusional, and the doomed. I suggest you turn your back and go home."

Turn back? I had to admit, the concept was enticing. Now was my chance, my chance to escape the madness of my life, to leave Ganondorf and his accursed temples for good. I slowly reached in my pocket for my ocarina and clasped my hand tightly around the handle. One song and I'd be out of here.

But no more than a second later, I let it go. I couldn't do it. All of Hyrule was depending on me. The Zoras died for me. Saria was waiting for me. If I left now, I'd be on Ganon's side, not Zelda's. And that was an allegiance I could not wish to accept. "No, Impa," I refused, shaking my head even though I knew she could not see it. "I have nowhere to turn back to. The gods demand that I enter this temple, whether I am risking my life or not."

Impa laughed, though it wasn't in happiness. It seemed I had struck some nerve. "You haven't realized it yet, have you?" she countered. "There are no gods in Kakariko. Only tragedy exists here." Those were pained words, words of remorse and longing. It didn't take a genius to guess she was remembering the fate of the Sheikah again. "Perhaps Majora is counting her days now, before she ensnares my valley once and for all. She is certainly claiming a population."

"You mean—!?"

In another flash, I could see the last of the Sheikah nodding solemnly. "Yes. The Stalfos have arrived in Kakariko."

The thunder came as soon as she finished speaking. She was right—even now, I could hear the distant screams of villagers. I felt myself panic. "What!?" I cried. "Impa, we have to save them!"

"They cannot be saved," she replied, her voice shaking ever so slightly. It dawned on me that Impa must have been crying. For how long, I wondered? "I've evacuated as many people as possible, but slaughter has already shown its face. Those who are not trapped in the village have sought asylum in the mountains, but it is only a matter of time before they are found. There were too many Stalfos; we tried to fight them, but then the ReDead appeared..."

My knees sunk to the altar's surface. "No," I whispered in defeat. It was Zora's Domain all over again, but this time I was right in the middle of it and there was nothing I could do.

"Since the well was re-opened, Kakariko has become a land where nothing can live. Zombies and ghosts have been rising from the ground, slaying anything they come across. I tried—" Impa's voice cracked. "—I tried to save them. For hours, Sheik and I scourged the village, seeking out babies, children, seniors, and adults alike, fighting off the undead as best we could, but it was useless. For every skeleton that fell, another one would rise to take its place. At last, we were forced to declare a retreat. Sheik now leads the people into the mountains. I, on the other hand, have my business here. The House, where we Sheikah have sought guidance for centuries, has fallen to the plague. The undead will forever be restless until the House has been purged. It is my regret that I must leave my people and pupil to fend for themselves, but it is my duty as Sage of Shadow to protect this temple. Even if it means sacrificing all that remains of Sheikah civilization." She began to cry. It was as if all that remorse, all that sorrow for her people's death, finally found its way to the surface of her body and could not be contained. Yet again, Impa was alone and struggling to fulfill the needs of too many people. She was incapable of resisting her duty towards the Shadow Temple, and yet her role as Sage, one that up until now had always seemed to me a blessing, a gift, forced her to give up the last things left for her to care about. The remnants of her home, the only Sheikah settlement remaining, had fallen, and the people whom she allowed residence were being punished for her kindness. Perhaps she, too, was doomed to destruction, though I tried to force myself not to think about it.

"Impa," I comforted, "I know you've given up a lot, but all that sacrifice will be in vain if the Shadow Temple continues to be dominated by evil. I need to get into the temple, no matter what the danger. Please understand. I want to help you."

There was a pause; I could imagine Impa collecting herself. "Very well," she ceded at last. "If there is no changing your mind, I shall bring you into the House. Follow me; the entrance is in this cave."

The cave was at first more of a tunnel staircase leading downwards into the very heart of the mountain. I found myself struggling to locate the edge of every step in the extinct light, and it only became darker as we descended. At the bottom, Impa took my arm and directed me onto a small platform. "The darkness will never bend to your will if you do not give it reason," she explained. "You know how to give the fire its name; call upon Din, and she will help." A faint tapping sound told me Impa had backed away.

As soon as I was sure she was out of the way, I performed the Din's Fire ritual. A burst of fire cast the cave into view, and as it radiated around me thousands and thousands of torches, in circular rows around the pedestal where I stood, were granted a flame. "Good job," Navi applauded.

I couldn't respond. In the light of the torches I got my first view of a giant stone door, engraved with a single giant eye. Across the top was something written in Sheikah; across the bottom, a Hylian translation. Both were written in blood. "Beyond these doors rests the blood of the royal family. Trespassers beware!" That was enough to make anybody afraid.

Lighting the torches was all it took to open the doors; the cavern shook as the massive slabs of rock swung slowly open. The air tugged at the sleeves of my Zora Tunic; the movement of the doors created a sort of vacuum as air was sucked inside. As the passage into the Shadow Temple became clear, I felt the atramentaceous darkness left in its wake reach for me, as if it had been waiting for me for a very long time. Something was calling to me, its voice tainting the back of my mind and luring me in. I looked at the black abyss beyond the doors with wide eyes, terror in my gut, and yet there was something welcoming about it, something that made me want to go in and never come out. It was like my brain was fighting with itself, torn between joining the darkness or allying itself with the light, and I was stuck in the middle.

A strange, dream-like veil swept before my eyes. I felt half-asleep, half-awake, and in the darkness a song began to slither its way into my cold, pained ears. It was a tinkling, one I had heard both recently and long long ago at the same time. It felt so recent, as if just yesterday, and yet my body told me it was one I hadn't heard in years. And then it hit me like another crack of thunder: I was hearing the Nocturne of Shadow, on the very clinker I had encountered seven years ago. My brain was doing just as the song dictated. It called out to the Shadow Temple, seeking direction, lost in the chaos of battle. I was no less a Sheikah man, wandering the mountains in search for the solution to all my troubles, and the only answer was the temple. To hear my memories pull up the song was a creature comfort in an unlikely place, and yet I shuddered as I identified it. What about what the old lady said? Was I truly cursed by darkness?

Impa picked up a Deku Stick laying on the ground and lit it on one of the torches. "The temple is blacker than the windmill's shadow," she darkly explained. "We shall never find our way in or out without light to guide us." Her Sheikah eyes, battle-hardened and stern, looked at me with wise caution. "If you are truly to follow me into this crypt, let me prepare you for the things ahead. The House of the Dead knows no light; if we lose this torch, we shall be trapped for eternity within the labyrinth. What you shall see in the flickering flames, however, is not what truly is; your senses will turn traitorous, and will only attempt to deceive you. We Sheikah can see the truth; but Hylians, with the darkness in their hearts, can only see what their eyes think is real, even if it is a lie. If you have anything that allows you to see the unseen, and ignore that which is an illusion, I suggest you grab it now." I nodded and clutched the Lens of Truth in my right hand.

"What I am about to say next," Impa continued, looking into my eyes with great concern and warning, "I say with great stress. My mind begs me not to utter these words, but my willpower is just strong enough to allow me to speak them. I cannot guarantee down there that I shall be friend, not foe. A darkness plagues all of us in Kakariko—me, my people, even you. It watches us, at every second, and bends our will to its own. If it so wants me to kill you, then you must not hesitate to do whatever it is in your power to protect yourself—even if it means killing me. I may be last of the Sheikah, but you are the only one who can bring an end to Ganondorf. In that comparison, my life means nothing if it means ending your's; my job as a Sheikah is to serve the Hylian crown, not protect my own. I beg of you to trust nothing but yourself, and trust yourself well." She put a cold hand on my shoulder, and I shuddered. There was a darkness in her voice. "Do not forget who you are. You are the Hero of Time, Link, the one who will bring light when there is none left. Repeat those words while you are in the temple, or you will be lost to madness." I nodded gravely.

"I understand."

Impa's frown turned into a small smile, and she gave me an encouraging pat on the back and held her torch high. "In that case, good luck. Let's get going, shall we? Follow me." Without another word, Impa turned and stepped into the inky confinements of the temple. I gulped and chased after her, until all that we could see was the light of her torch.

A mixture of excitement, fear, and worry came to me when Impa held out her arm to stop me, no more than two minutes into the temple. "Watch your feet, Hero of Time," she warned, her voice tinted with excitement, perhaps out of pride. "The first trial of the House lies before us."

I looked around. "Where? All I see is black."

"Look downwards, but do not take a step. The floor bids us an early invitation to join the dead." I followed her eyes, and saw beneath me the stone floor end just a few inches from where we stood. Eternal darkness stretched out from the drop-off, but I could just make out faint patches of brown below, signifying the tips of many jagged spikes. "If you do not wish to be impaled, I suggest you use your hookshot," Impa recommended.

"Actually," I said with a bit of a wry grin, "it's a longshot now." Looking out in front of us, I couldn't see anything to longshot to. "Where am I supposed to fire it?" I asked.

Impa pointed somewhere beyond the pit. "My eyes are better than your's in the darkness, Hero of Time. I see a hookshot panel not too far away. Believe your judgment, not your eyes, and you shall reach it." I nodded and directed my longshot towards where Impa pointed. I couldn't see anything, but my instinct told me it was about...here. I released the clutch of the longshot and with a mild kick-back the sharp dagger tip of the longshot launched itself into the darkness. There was silence for a moment, followed by a faint clink. A tug of the device told me it was hooked tightly onto something.

"Hold on, Impa," I instructed. She nodded and grabbed my waist. I tightened the clutch and was yanked towards where the hook had caught. Within seconds we were on the other side of the pit, and ready to continue.

We walked slowly and carefully through a tight hallway, just barely able to make out the walls around us in the darkness. The farther we delve into the Shadow Temple, the harder it became to breathe. With only the single entryway to bring air into the temple, the temple was incredibly stuffy, with zero air circulation to speak of, and the weather outside brought the tomb a dense humidity that I found almost unbearable. Every breath I took in was heavy, saturated with moisture, and I had to breathe rapidly to get any oxygen at all. Navi, her light near-useless and her wings tired, slept under my hat. It was just Impa, her torch, and I, all alone in a silent crypt.

Finally, we arrived at an iron door. "Excuse me," Impa requested, shuffling past me in the tight space and getting between me and the door. With her free hand she shuffled in her pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. "As guardian of this temple," she explained, "I hold the keys to every room. We should hope, as we go further, that I do not misuse them." The pure thought of being locked in a room here, with such thick iron doors preventing any escape, was one I hastily pushed out of my mind.

The door creaked loudly, possibly unopened for years, and we passed through into a new room. Impa whispered, "Wait here," and left me alone in the black void. All I could see was her and her torch's light, getting smaller as it moved away from me, until suddenly another flame appeared, and then another, and another, until the room became dimly illuminated. She had lit more torches (which, I nervously realized, were topped with skulls).

The room we were in was fairly large. The only door was the one we had just passed through, but far away I could see an iron fence blocking off another passageway. In the center of the room towered a large statue of a Kargarok, like the gargoyles atop Impa's manor, and the skull torches made a circle around it. Between the circle and the fence was another drop-off, the bottom of which I couldn't see. "This is the entry hall of the temple," Impa explained, "guarded by the Statue of Decision. She watches over the temple with an all-seeing eye, and will only allow passage for those with wings like her's. All wings of the house may be reached from here: the Door to Demise, the Bank of Blood, and the Hole of Horror." I could feel my goosebumps rising—those were creepy names. "I believe our quarry hides in the Hole, but to proceed we must give you holy feet. Come, let us enter the Bank."

"Must we really?" I groaned.

Impa nodded. "Every path is a scary one, but remember who you are and nothing will be able to hurt you."

The Blood Bank was lit by eerie glowing eyes on the walls that followed us wherever we went. I stuck close behind Impa, convinced that she knew where she was going. Eventually we arrived at another iron door. "Let's check through here," Impa suggested, opening the vault. "You first."

I nodded and stepped into the room beyond the door. As soon as I was inside, though, there was a loud slamming noise. I spun around. There was a distinct clicking noise—the sound of a door being locked. "Impa!?" I cried. There was no answer. Turning around, I rubbed my eyes and tried as hard as I could to adjust them. The seamless darkness was broken only by a single torch hanging from an earthen wall on the other end of the room. As the features of the room became distinguishable, I was able to discern the horrid outlines of skulls. The floor, as it turned out, was covered with piles and piles of bones, so that there were very little places where one could step without crushing any.

After the bones, it didn't take me long to spy the hands. They had left such a mark on me after my encounter with them in the Kakariko Well, it would have been heresy if I hadn't recognized them. Quivering in the stale room towered many clammy grey arms, of which I could only assume were under the ownership of Dead Hand. Was he here too?

Of course he was; probing an arm brought him straight into the open, just as it had last time. Unfortunately for him, I knew his weakness, and it took me mere minutes to turn him into ashes. The ashes turned into something different this time, though: boots almost identical to mine, but with golden soles and wings on the heels. As I picked them up to examine them, there was a click behind me, and the door open. "Impa," I growled, "what happened?"

"I'm sorry," the Sheikah apologized. "The door closed by itself; I tried to open it, but it was bolted shut! Are you alright?"

"...yeah, thankfully." I showed her the boots. "Do you have any idea what these are?"

There was a twinkle in Impa's eyes. "Hover Boots, the Holy Feet. This is what we have been searching for; here, try them on." I did as I was told, and to my astonishment I felt twenty pounds lighter, as if I'd soar through the air for a few seconds even if I walked off a cliff. "With these boots we can cross into the Hole of Horror," she explained. "Let's go."

-

As if it were possible at all, the darkness got darker as we left the Statue of Decision behind and descended through the lonely tunnel into the Hole of Horror. I was reminded of the Forest Temple, and as Impa and I walked side-by-side, Navi quieter than I'd ever heard her, I found myself reminiscing about Saria. I wondered what _she_ would think of the Shadow Temple. It was a terrible thought, picturing her all by herself in the tomb, so I hurriedly imagined Mido there instead.

"So Impa, why is this called the Hole of Horror?" Navi asked, breaking the silence like thunder.

"The Hole of Horror is the true 'house' of the Shadow Temple. Beyond it rests the bodies of many a Sheikah; to protect the catacombs, many defenses were set up on the way to it so that only the experienced Sheikah coroners could make their way through. Everybody else who tried either went mad, or was never seen again." There was a tremor in Impa's words, as if the powerful woman were shuddering. "I hate mad people. The Shadow Temple used to be filled with the screams and laughter of the mentally insane; those who weren't driven mad by the house were lunatics imported in droves from Hyrule Castle Town, for there was nowhere else to put them. I would not be surprised if even after all these years, the echoes of their insanity still lingers in the Hole." I shivered. That was a very unpleasant thought.

The torch's flame suddenly took a sharp turn. No sooner had it changed direction than it stopped, and I could hear the clinking sound of somebody fumbling with an iron door. There was a loud screeching noise as the door was pulled open, and Impa led me inside and into a new room. This new chamber was a little less dark than the Hole, and despite it being blacker than a moonless night it felt infinitely brighter than where we had just been, and my eyes could make out walls, the floor, and the ceiling in the gloom. What caught our attention, though, was a wretched, high-pitched noise that sounded like a knife's blade being scraped across a porcelain dinner plate. Every few seconds it etched itself into our poor ear drums, and I had to resist the urge to throw my hands to my ears. "What _is_ that sound, Impa!?" I demanded assertively.

"Why not find out for yourself, Hero of Time?" Impa answered rigidly. "Peer through your Lens of Truth."

I obediently strained my eyes through the red glass of the looking glass. A cloaked phantom lashed out at me through the crimson veil, and instinctively I drew back. A second glance through the Lens revealed that the phantom was only a statue. In actuality, the center of the room was dominated by a statue of three cloaked figures, each grasping its own giant scythe. The statue spun slowly in place, so that the massive blades scratched their way around the stone floor like a languid propeller. Though the blades were suspended above the floor, the passage of time left them drooping at the tips, so that with every shove of the statue at least one of the tips etched across the stone and caused that painful noise. The way the enormous scythes glided around the room, however, made virtually all but the corners a murderous place to be standing in. Whether or not that was problematic, though, I didn't know.

"My guess is that the well monster is hiding in the deepest reaches of the temple," Impa explained, leaving me to search about the safe parts of the room, stepping over the minced remains of past explorers indifferently. "There is a shortcut to the catacombs somewhere in this room. If luck is on our side, that shortcut is still open. Look around, Hero of Time. If you spot anything strange on the floor, check to see if it is a passageway."

"Sure thing."

As much as I didn't want to get close to the blades, it quickly became apparent that there was no choice but to risk our safety by crossing their range to investigate the small passages lining the walls. My grip tight around the handle of the Lens of Truth, I had it virtually locked over my eyes so I could run through the circle without being sliced in two. The first grove that I checked was empty, save for a skeleton wrapped in a straight-jacket, still dangling from the chains that held it prisoner. The second grove had an inscription, warning of some sort of boat, but it was too hard to scrutinize it in the all-but-non-existent light. My third attempt, however, was successful, and I called Impa over as I saw a depression in the floor with my Lens of Truth.

"There's a barrier here," Impa remarked, seeing what I had found. "Only a Sheikah can open it. Step aside." I moved out of the way so she could bend down and observe it better. Without another word, she swept her hand across the surface, and there was a dim flash of light. A hole appeared in the floor, as did a ladder.

"Thank goodness," I sighed in relief. "The sooner we finish the better."

"We aren't out of trouble yet," Impa snapped. "This is the entrance to the shortcut, not the outlet." Still holding onto her torch in one hand, she knelt down and descended the ladder. Not wishing to be left alone in the darkness, I wasted little time in following. The bottom of the hole was lit by the faintest light. I could have sworn things looked a little _greener_, if that made any sense. However, with the exception of another dead schizophrenic, there was little of note in the small, rectangular, empty room. "It seems we shall have to take the long way," the Sheikah sighed after having a look around. "The other end of this passage has been blocked underneath us; the only way to open it would be from the other side." She returned to the ladder. "Come, Hero of Time. We have a long road ahead of us." With a groan of frustration, I nodded.

It wasn't too hard to figure out that we would have to go one at a time to get around the blades of death and reach the door back into the Hole. I boldly took the burden of being the first to cross. Warily, I kept my eyes glued to the Lens of Truth waiting for a chance to jump in. I decided to wait until the next blade passed, and then I'd make a dash for the exit. Here it came... Suddenly, just before I was in the clear, I felt a shove from behind. My body lurched forward, and I jammed my heels into the floor just in time to avoid having my body severed. My Zora Tunic wasn't as lucky, and a loose part of it was torn by the tip of the passing scythe. "Impa!" I scolded furiously. "What'd you do that for!?"

"I apologize," she replied, casting her eyes away from mine. "I lost my footing for a moment, and fell forward. I realize I almost spelled your doom; I can only hope that you will forgive me."

I glared at her for a moment, then eased my stare. "Alright, Impa, I forgive you." All the same, I had to wait for the next blade before I could cross. Another blade later, and Impa was beside me once again, and together we returned to the Hole of Horror.

As we delved deeper into the temple, Impa made more and more mistakes. Some, though I hated to say it, could almost have been intentional. Sure, you can accidentally knock a person into a guillotine from behind—that I could accept. But it is another thing entirely to disappear when a person's being attacked by undead monsters, accidentally almost drop a giant spiked compressor onto a person's head, and get in somebody's way when they're avoiding a Beamos laser. The deeper we got into the Shadow Temple, the less I could trust her. Honestly, sometimes I figured it would be best just to get rid of her. Her motives were uncertain, and nobody would know it was me all the way down here... I actually nudged _her_ towards a guillotine once or twice.

We had just fought off a horde of ReDead lingering in one of the temple chambers when Impa turned on me. I had been ignoring her cries while a ReDead was sucking the life out of her; she could handle it, I figured, so I focused more on collecting the White Rupees scattered about the room, just visible from the light they reflected from the torch. That didn't go down too well with her. I had just grabbed the last White Rupee (as made clear by the sound of an unlatching door) when she stepped in my way.

"What were you doing?" the Sheikah demanded, and as I moved to get around her it became clear that she wasn't about to let me move. "I was almost killed, 'Hero' of Time."

"I thought you could handle it," I snapped. "After all, aren't you the Sage of Shadow? This is your specialty, this place."

"This dark tomb isn't my specialty! I am not sage of the dead!" There was a splatting sound, as if she had just spat on the floor. "Just because I'm a Sheikah doesn't mean I can take on a ReDead by myself, in pitch-black darkness, when it's already biting into my soul!"

"Well sorry, okay?" What was her deal? She was obstructing me from getting the evil out of the temple! Some help she was being! "Let's just get going now, okay?"

Impa didn't budge. "Link," she addressed in a low voice, "I think it's best you leave. I think I'm better off without you, if you are going to be so un-reliable."

What the heck!? This was _my_ fight! "Excuse me? Didn't you just complain about being alone?"

"You've outstayed your welcome. I think you've let your title get to your head; Hero of Time or no, don't forget that I am a Sheikah, more powerful and wiser than a Kokiri-raised Hylian boy."

"Hey, Kokiri aren't stupid!" I roared. "When our lives were at risk, we didn't go off and kill ourselves!"

Impa seized my collar and suspended me in the air. In the light of the torch I could see anger all across her face. "How dare you make such a suggestion! We died so that you could live! Never forget that!" She threw me to the floor.

I stumbled onto my feet, wincing as I felt painful bruises. "I'm not leaving Impa," I growled. "There's nothing you can do to make me leave. So either we carry on, or Kakariko will perish."

Impa was silent for a moment. "Okay," she growled at last. "But don't get in my way." She led the way through the darkness to the door; but not for long, if I'd have any say in it.

Exploring the Shadow Temple soon became less about finding the Kakariko monster and slaying it, and rather a mere contest of wits to see which of the two of us wouldn't make it out alive. Our co-operation decayed into utter selfish chaos—every spoil, every treasure, was for the finder to hold, not the other, for the other was never to be trusted with anything. I sometimes wondered if Impa was leading me into a trap. Every time she and her accursed torch, binding me to follow her, vanished, I grew wary, jumpy, and quite paranoid, fearful that she may burst out of nowhere, or knew of some Sheikah trap that I did not.

Finally, though, we stepped into a massive cavern illuminated by an eerie green glow. I had yet to see anything of the Shadow Temple, considering it was hidden in impenetrable darkness, but now I could see in this cavern how ancient the temple truly was. The walls were nearly falling apart, and many gargoyles and statues were only partially standing, limbs, heads, and portions crumbled beyond repair. The walls were a featureless grey, made entirely of stone, but there were splotches of blood near the floor, and fearsome bat-like gargoyles along the tops of the walls. Every wall bore a Sheikah eye, watching our every move with bloodthirsty intrigue. Bones, both complete skeletons and mere arms or skulls, dotted the floor. In some corners of the cave there were even giant urns, filled to the brim with the corpses and skeletons of hundreds of bodies. Cobwebs were to be found in every sort of corner, thicker and more opaque than any I had ever seen before. One end of the cavern—the end opposite of where we stood, near us so that the cavern looked predominantly rectangular—was made of sheer bedrock, but the markings on the rock layers were so morbid they could have passed for more Sheikah murals. Beneath the bedrock was a giant underground river (from which the glow was emitting), which cut into the wall on our left and seemed to travel even deeper, making the cavern even larger than it had initially appeared. "Where are we?" I asked, shivering under my Zora Tunic. For a moment I forgot my rivalry with Impa.

"We have arrived at the River of Souls," the sage answered. "We have come to the denouement; there is nowhere deeper to travel in the House, and I am sure our quarry is hiding here. He is one with the underworld, and this is the closest place we mortals can ever hope of being to the world of the dead. See over there?" She pointed to our right and I gasped. There was, at the far-right end of the cavern, a wooden dock. Towering above it was an enormous vessel, a giant boat, its bow decorated with a bird statue so menacing it could have swallowed all of Kokiri Forest up if it were alive. "That is the Dead Man's Ferry," Impa explained. "The river will kill any who touch it, so my ancestors built this boat to carry coroners to the extra catacombs at the other end of the river. It is the only way for us to cross the river." Impa set her torch down against a nearby vase, crumbling with age. "We shall need a flame no longer. The river shall light the way from here on out." She began marching towards the vessel with such resolve that even if she were wrong it would have seemed like she knew what she was doing. I, meanwhile, hesitated before following her. Was this a trap? Sheikah had better eyes than Hylians; it was entirely possible that we could wind up somewhere dark, and without the torch I'd be helpless against her if she turned traitor. I eyed the torch longingly. "Well? Aren't you coming?" Impa called, already atop the boat. I took another second, running things through my mind, then finally climbed aboard.

"This boat is enchanted," Impa noted as I reached the top of the craft's ladder. "It only moves for messengers of the Hylian Royal Family. Fortunately for us," she finished cautiously, eying me suspiciously, "we both have assumed that role." As soon as I stood atop the Dead Man's Ferry alongside Impa the boat shook, and suddenly it began to bob up and down, simultaneously trudging forward sluggishly through the River of Souls. With every rise on the river's waves, a sharp, ominous chime sounded, eerily merry amongst the grim surroundings. The ring echoed in my head, and as we passed into a tunnel it bounced off the walls to give me an even greater headache.

As the minutes passed on, Impa looked increasingly edgy. Finally, she told me she'd check something underneath the bow and would be right back. I didn't even have time to protest before she leaped over the front of the ship and vanished from sight with Sheikah agility. Something wasn't right...

Suddenly there was a bang as part of the tunnel's roof exploded and two Stalfos descended onto the deck. "We've been waiting for you, Hero of Time," one cackled, almost catching me off-guard with a swing of its crooked sword in my direction, brutally reminding me I still had yet to obtain a new shield. "You cannot escape from us aboard this vessel!"

"Impa," I called, "we've got trouble!" There was no response, and I just barely dodged another attack. "Impa!?" Idiot, I should have known! As I looked around and found my calls unanswered, it dawned on me that this had been a set-up. Impa had deserted me, probably with full knowledge that the ferry's bells would attract attention. I angrily fought back with my Master Sword, putting my fury to good use by turning it on the skeleton warriors. These Stalfos were trickier than the ones I had battled in the Forest Temple; they fought unfairly, both of them attacking me at the same time (Stalfos lore typically allowed only one-on-one combat). I found myself quickly cornered against the edge of the boat.

Miraculously, though, one of the Stalfos fumbled and attacked too early, and I was able to roll underneath it (it made a jump attack) and slice it apart from behind. Its bones collapsed onto the deck. Taking advantage of the other Stalfos' surprise, I quickly made good work of it and kicked both of their bones into the glowing waters below.

A short moment after the last of the bones plummeted into the water, the ferry came to a grinding halt, jerking forward at the very end before becoming completely stationary. I was so busy fighting the Stalfos that I had been completely unaware that the boat had reached the end of the tunnel and nearly crashed into a large rocky wall. With a bit of exasperation I made my way down the side of the Dead Man's Ferry and onto the uneven rock that made up the floor in this part of the cavern. The moment I released the tension in my muscles, Impa dropped down from nowhere.

"Where were you!?" I demanded. "I was almost killed up there! Why'd you desert me!?" I could feel my blood pressure rising exponentially.

"For your information," Impa snapped, "there was a problem with the bowsprit. If it weren't for me, the ferry wouldn't have even stopped, and instead it would have crashed into that wall and sunk. You should be thanking me," she ended coldly.

I had very little to say to her. Seeing as I wasn't going to 'waste her time' anymore, Impa directed me towards a large, iron door that didn't look like it had been opened in centuries. There was another door, far closer to us in this extension of the cavern, but Impa ignored it. On my inquiry, though, she stated that the closer door merely led to more catacombs, and that her instinct told her our quarry was to be found beyond the massive door. To be honest, I could feel it too. There was something on the other side, something...almost alluring.

Unfortunately, however, there was nothing to be found on the other side. We entered a room ensnared in darkness; not the darkness that had plagued us for so long in the rest of the temple, but a sort of ominous, unnatural darkness that sent shivers up my spine. I could see—just barely, but compared to the rest of the temple it was a relief. The room we were in was circular and bare, empty were it not for the two of us and the door we had just passed through.

As soon as the door shut behind us, though, we heard the distinct click of a door locking. A deep, rumbling voice boomed down from above, taking us both by complete surprise. As I peered up, looking for the source, I realized there was no ceiling, but instead an endless shaft blacker than any black I had experienced before. It was from there that the voice came. "You two have performed courageously," the voice said, though every sense in my body told me it wasn't a phrase to be appreciated. "I am fascinated that despite all my efforts, you still have managed to enter my hiding place."

"Plague of Kakariko!" Impa bellowed, staring up into the darkness. "For ages you have tormented all who set foot in my people's valley. You were sealed away long ago by my grandfather, yet you haven't sought escape until now. I wish nothing but your destruction," she explained, crossing her arms, "but first I must know, why now? Why is it that you have waited all these years when you could have escaped before?"

"I am Lord of Death, a fallen god. Your ancestors trapped me in that well in chains of iron so strong that even I could be held by it, as long as the well continued to be enchanted. I thought myself defeated; but there I discovered a secret even the Goddess Farore tried to hide from me. There is a spell, one so dark that even the Twili considered it taboo. By enacting the ritual, I may restore my powers, and I shall be God of Death once more!"

"Who _are_ you!?" I demanded.

"You know the answer to that already; you have known for seven years."

I was taken aback. "What... What are you talking about?"

"Search your mind, open your heart to the darkness; all the answers lie just under your nose, lingering in the shadows where you never looked."

I thought for a moment about what he said. A bad feeling began to spread over me, goosebumps flowing with it. In an all-too disturbing manner, the speaker's name suddenly flashed in my mind, and I felt as if I had known it for ages. "...Bongo...Bongo..." My mouth moved without warning, and I thrust my hands up to my lips in distress. No matter how much I tried, though, I could not move my jaw; my mouth, tongue, and lungs just behaved on their own, a separate entity speaking its mind. "You are Bongo Bongo, Master of Kakariko."

Impa gawked. "Link, what do you think you're saying!?"

I couldn't respond. "As a gift to the Great Ganondorf, you have given him an army of the undead in return for being revitalized by the Triforce. And now, to express your gratitude further, you shall end the lives of two of his most elusive traitors."

"Well said, Hero of Time," Bongo Bongo applauded. "You said everything just as I wanted you to. You make a fine servant. And I must thank you for behaving so well and luring the Sage right into my grasp. Without you, I never would have been able to exact my revenge."

I felt the lock on my mouth release itself. "Servant? What are you talking about!?" I demanded.

"Unfortunately, I have no further need for vermin such as yourself."

"Answer me!"

A loud thump echoed from above. Impa suddenly doubled over. "I... I..." The air around her was blacker than ink. She herself seemed paler than usual.

"Impa, are you alright?" I asked cautiously, turning my attention away from the ceiling. There was another thump. Suddenly, Impa lunged at me and nearly slammed her fist into my face, had I not ducked. "Impa, what are you doing!?"

"Hero of Time," she answered coldly, "you tricked me! All this time, you were leading me here! You are a traitor to our king!"

Somehow, I didn't deny it, even though I knew wasn't true. "I'm starting to think I've had about enough of you, Impa," I growled. Impa lunged at me again, but this time her fist connected, and I was knocked to the floor. A cracking sound told me something was broken—I could only hope it was my nose.

"What's the matter?" Bongo Bongo chuckled from above. "Can't bring yourself to fight, Hero of Time? I'm sure you are tougher than that." Another thump. Suddenly I found myself reaching for my sword.

"Impa, I've been thinking," I said, horrified at what was coming out of my mouth yet in no way trying to fight it or disagree with it, "perhaps I've been fighting on the wrong side. I don't think Ganondorf would turn on his men like you have."

The Sheikah was mortified. "What!?"

I swung my sword towards her tauntingly. There was no controlling my mouth; once again, it was moving with a mind of its own. "You heard me. Impa... _I side with Ganondorf_!"

"TRAITOR!" Impa screamed. With a sudden burst of energy, she charged towards me; I thrust my sword towards her to stop her, but she defiantly grabbed its edges and used it as leverage to launch herself into the air and powerfully kick my head. I was again thrown to the ground, but the blood spilled onto the floor was not my own—Impa's hands were dripping with the same blood that was coating the sides of my Master Sword.

Again, my mouth came back under my power. I gasped, looking at the blood on her hands with terrible realization of what I had done. "Impa, I—" Before I could even finish, Impa pulled out a whip from her belt and lashed it at my stomach. I screamed in pain. It had been so unexpected, I hadn't even moved out of the way. I was beginning to see why the Sheikah were seen as such skilled fighters. This realization was another vulnerability, and again I felt the sharp sting of her whip.

"How dare you even _call_ yourself a hero!!!" Impa roared, striking me again and again with her whip in a bloodthirsty rage I had never seen in her. Navi pleaded overhead for us to stop, but her cries were drowned out by my own.

Finally, when it felt like I could take no more pain, Bongo Bongo intervened. "The Hero of Time losing to such an insignificant threat to the Great Ganondorf?" he growled. "That's inexcusable!" There was another thump. "_Kill her_."

"What!?" I gasped. I _couldn't_ bring myself to kill her. It was...wrong! Even when she was going all out to rip me to shreds, the thought of killing her was...

"_Now_."

...obligatory. I couldn't believe I even thought that much. But suddenly, my body seemed to think the death of Impa to be the best idea possible. As if I was a mere puppet with my strings being guided from above, I felt my body react to Impa's next whiplash with stunning speed. Before her whip could even reach my body, I sprung my Master Sword up to catch it. The whip wrapped around the sword again and again, until I suddenly had a powerful advantage. I rose to my feet, and seeing the realization and horror cross Impa's face, I even smiled. I spun my blade, reeling her closer and closer, until she was within sword's distance.

"You can't, Link," Impa plead, as if a new realization came across her. "Please..."

"Shut up!" I snapped. Without hesitation, I rushed the tip of my Master Sword straight towards her; but at the last moment, stopped. I released her from my grip. "To kill a friend... That is something I cannot do," I stated defiantly, forcing my mouth to move how I liked. "Not even Bongo Bongo can make me do that."

Impa stared at me, then suddenly there was another thump and she leaped at me. The sword pierced the Sheikah's battle armor and plunged right through her heart. In seconds, Impa was cold dead.

As soon as it happened, it was as if the chains on our bodies were lifted. I regained control of my body, and in horror I pulled my sword out of her corpse. Impa's body collapsed lifelessly to the floor, leaving the last of the Sheikah a miserable heap on the stone.

"Link, what happened?" Navi begged, at a loss for any other word.

"I... I..." I beheld the sage's dead body speechlessly, eyes bouncing back and forth between her and the blood coating my sword. "I... I didn't..."

"Oh, but you did!" jeered the voice from above. "With your own two hands, you have murdered your own companion." Bongo Bongo laughed, his cachinnation like the cries of thousands of people erupting into flames. "At last, the Shadow Folk are extinct! My revenge against the Sheikah has been completed."

I stared up at the formless darkness with unfathomable anger. "You monster!"

"Ah, but I almost forgot. The Great Ganondorf wishes for the Hero of Time to be crushed too! And in doing so, I shall at last complete the ritual of my freedom."

"Show yourself!" I cried.

Navi, Impa, and I were suddenly sucked into the abyss above us by a vaccuum. Everything went dark...

-

When I returned to consciousness, I found myself lying on a massive drum, half the size of Lake Hylia. It sat in a cave much like the one housing the river, and a putrid smell just like the river's took little time in filling my nostrils. Impa lay beside me, though I knew she was nowhere near coming into consciousness. I got up onto my feet.

"Welcome to the Underworld," Bongo Bongo announced, his voice coming from somewhere very nearby. "It is here that my powers are strongest, and it is here, ten thousand leagues beneath the Shadow Temple, that I shall exact the ritual that shall bring me my freedom!"

"Show yourself!" I screamed.

"...very well..."

Navi shouted. "Link, above you!"

I craned my neck up just in time to see a massive creature descend from the darkness. It resembled an inverted giant, one whose arms and neck were at the bottom of its body, and its torso extended infinitely upwards until it was lost to eyesight. The creature had no arms; where its shoulders ended, muscles, arteries, veins, and bones lay openly exposed. Despite this, two gigantic hands floated in the air where its arms would have ended. The skin of the creature was even clammier and older than Dead Hand's, and it was stained a dark purple. Perhaps most eye-catching about the creature was its head; where its neck ended and a head should have been, there was a single eye, greater in size than the entire body of a horse and bursting with an garish red light that seemed almost as bright as the sun. Tendrils circled around the eye like petals to the bud of a flower. There was no mistaking it; this was the eye I had witnessed beneath Kakariko Well seven years ago.

"Since we met seven years ago, I've been manipulating your every action, Hero of Time," Bongo Bongo explained. Though he had no mouth, his words spoke directly to my very soul. "I must thank you; without you Ganondorf and I would never have discovered how traitorous Morpha was. Yet now our relationship must come to an end. With this drum I shall rip out your soul, and with the life force of Farore's little pet I shall become God of Death once again!" Before I could even respond, Bongo Bongo's disembodied hands began patting the drum. The drum resonated that same thumping sound that I had heard while fighting Impa. The creature before me trumpeted a sort of cry that I had never heard before, and could only equate to the terrified screams of thousands of innocent adults and children as they were ripped apart limb by limb and devoured alive. Before my very eyes, Bongo Bongo vanished into thin air.

"Navi, where'd he go!?" The pounding of the drum began to pick up speed, and the drum's surface became harder and harder to stand on.

"Link," Navi replied, "your Lens of Truth, quick!"

Sure enough, just as beneath the Well, by looking through the looking glass I was able to regard the sanguine color of Bongo Bongo's eye with great mortification. He stared back at me, and with every pound of the drum, it felt like he was surveying deeper and deeper into my soul. I had a growing sensation that left like my chest was fighting not to explode and send all my innerds towards his bleeding eye. "Navi, I have to take out those hands!" I declared.

"Try your bow," my fairy suggested. "Remember how well it worked on Phantom Ganon?"

I nodded. Struggling to remember where the phantom shadow beast's hands were through the Lens, I lowered the Lens to notch an arrow. Releasing it brought me a roar of pain from Bongo Bongo. Peeking through the Lens of Truth again, I saw one of his hands was utterly paralyzed. "Gotcha!" I cheered.

To my horror, though, it only took mere seconds for the hand to recover. "Struggling to escape, are we?" Bongo Bongo chuckled.

I was flung into the air as Bongo Bongo made the recovered hand into a fist and slammed it onto the drum. The Lens of Truth dropped from my hand, and with it the image of my enemy. "I understand you like music, Hero of Time," the phantom sneered. "Let us sing and dance to a new tune, hm?" The world around me froze, and I realized that I had been suspended in the air. To my horror, my limbs began to contort on their own, dancing to the furious beat of Bongo Bongo's drum. I struggled to resist with all my might, but there was no stopping it. It was as if I was a mere head attached to somebody else's body. "Yes, very good," Bongo Bongo evaluated, "this should fulfill the requirements perfectly. Now let us have a look at that soul Farore loves _oh-so_ much." I stopped dancing and hung in the air, my cataleptic arms and legs stretched out to my sides as far as possible. The wind was suddenly knocked out of me as powerful, invisible punches pounded my stomach repeatedly like a punching bag. I couldn't even scream my agony; I had no air to make a single sound. The drum's earthshaking melody pounded my eardrums, every note to the same beat as the punches. It seemed like painful ages before the pandemonium stopped. As soon as it did, Bongo Bongo slammed me back down onto the drum like a fly swatter.

I weakly got to my feet and hastily searched for my Lens of Truth. "Ah-ah-ah, I'm not letting you try _that_ again," Bongo Bongo taunted. "Your soul has been opened, I need only to take it!"

At once my limbs were spread out again, and I was helpless to do anything on the contrary. This time, however, Bongo Bongo began to _tug_. It was like being on a stretching rack; I could feel my bones and muscles desperately holding on with all their might, trying not to let go and allow my limbs to be ripped off. With every second, the pull became more and more intense, until I found myself involuntarily screaming. It was like my shoulders and thigh were on fire and getting hotter and hotter. I couldn't last much longer.

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, a dull light began to shine on my chest. To my horror, I watched as Bongo Bongo began wrenching my soul out of my body. Little by little, the greenish wisp inched more and more out of my body, and I began to lose sensation in my body. A dull emptiness began creeping up my foot, as if it were turning into a mindless shell. And yet Bongo Bongo pulled harder at my limbs. I could feel him drawing my soul and limbs farther and farther away. Navi could do nothing but try in vain to push the phantom's hands off me. I searched for some form of help, but could find nothing to depend on but the sight of the lifeless Sheikah. "I-Impa," I struggled to cry through painful screams of excruciation, "p-please, h-h-heeeeellllp!!!" I knew she was dead, I knew there was no hope, but I _had_ to cry out to _somebody_! Otherwise, was as good as _dead_.

"Nobody can save you," Bongo Bongo laughed, obviously finding my situation hilarious. "Not even the gods."

But then, as debilitation began to creep into my hips, a miracle happened. Out of the corner of my eye, Impa inexplicably stumbled onto her feet. She took one look at me, seized my fallen bow, notched an arrow, and fired it into the darkness. There was a thunderous sound like a balloon full of water being stabbed with a needle, followed by an enormous crash. My soul launched itself back into my body, and with great relief I was dropped immediately. "Impa, I--"

"Save it for later!" she ordered, her words so fast that they sounded like only one. "Quick, your lens and sword!" I nodded and grabbed my Master Sword and Lens of Truth faster than I could have ever moved before. Peering through the lens, I saw the great monster collapsed on his own drum, blood erupting from his inflamed eye, where Impa undoubtedly must have shot the arrow. I ran as fast as I could to the bleeding eye, boots splashing in the deep pools of vinaceous blood, until I stood less than a yard away from the God of Death.

Every muscle in my body banefully struggled to keep me from thrusting my sword into his eye. For a moment I just stood there, staring at it. "What are you doing!?" Navi screamed. "Stab him!" I hardly heard her words. Time seemed to stand still, I staring into Bongo Bongo's eye, him staring into mine. Even with his wound, Bongo Bongo's power still was over me, and I could feel the phantom trying to keep me from defeating him. But after what felt like the longest moment, I could feel another power, a stronger power: Love. Saria's image burned into my mind. If I didn't stop this now, she and everybody else I held dear to me would be destroyed. And not even the gods could make me kill my beloved Saria. In that second my brain overcame my body, and I slowly drew my sword back. My body tried and tried to keep it back, but I forced it forwards, and with a sickening sound I plunged the Sword of Evil's Bane into the bright red eye.

There was an earthshaking boom as Bongo Bongo's eye burst forth a fountain of blood with such force that I was knocked away to the other end of the drum. The whole monster became clearly visible—even without the lens—and Impa and I watched in awe as he and his hands spasmed and writhed in unfathomable pain, as if all at once experiencing the agony of all the beings he killed. Slowly, everything—blood, hands, and body—began to turn blacker than the Shadow Temple, and with a crash Bongo Bongo melted into the drum. As the last traces of his blood seamlessly sank into the instrument, Impa reported, "The deed is done. The terror of Kakariko is no more." As she spoke, a wave of relief overcame me, and I felt as if I had until now been wrapped in chains, and all the chains were removed. For the first time in ages, I felt free. Impa seemed to feel the same.

I gawked at her. "Impa, I thought you were dead," I stammered.

"I thought I was too," she replied with confusion. "I thought the Sheikah were now truly extinct. But..." She looked at the blue light flowing gently from the center of the drum, a Heart Container spinning in the middle of it. Her expression was distant. "Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps even Bongo Bongo was wrong. Perhaps, despite everything, the gods really _do_ watch over Kakariko." Without another word, she and I stepped into the light, and as I clasped the Heart Container I felt reality bend, and we were taken away.

-

I flung my arms over my face as a bright light, the brightest light I had ever experienced, glared in my eyes. The world slowly materialized around me as my eyes adjusted, and when it was finally over I nearly fainted. The sun was shining on the most improbable spot in all of Hyrule: Kakariko Valley. The purple flowers which perished in the darkness following Ganondorf's take-over were blooming for the first time in seven years, basking in the sun with great enthusiasm. The _whole_ valley seemed to sparkle, really, as a gentle wind blew white dandelion seeds through the air. I stood on the Doorstep to Demise, looking out at the graveyard and Kakariko Village, and no matter how hard I looked, I could not spot a single shadow, for in that grand quiescence, light seemed to shine onto everything in the entire world. Taking in a deep breath brought me countless smells, clean air, and the delicious taste of life. It was as if a curtain had been lifted over the valley, and it was now free to exist with as much vigor as it pleased. Even from here, I could see families in Kakariko Village being re-united, parents and children coming to each other in loving embraces that could only mean life was here to stay.

There was a sound to my side, and I turned to see Impa walking to my side. "The Shadow Temple has been re-sealed," she explained, "this time for good. The doors to my people's labyrinth shall never be opened again." Looking at Impa, I got another pleasant surprise—for the first time I had ever witnessed, a great smile shone on her face, complimented by eyes that were glad instead of sad. It was as if even _her_ troubles had been lifted. "Hero of Time," she acknowledged, her tone bright and cheerful, "you have done what I thought impossible. When I thought all hope in Kakariko was lost, and the province was lost forever to darkness and death, you appeared and lifted the accursed plague of Bongo Bongo from our souls. He had been controlling all of us, from babies to Professor Shikashi, right under our noses, and for all these years we all had unknowingly been puppets in his god-forsaken ritual. Now, for the first time since my grandfather sealed him in the well, our minds are now our own, and we can live again."

I blushed. "It was no problem," I grinned. "Really."

"As a reward for freeing us from our curse, I wish to give you the Shadow Medallion, and entrust you with the power of the Sheikah. Do you accept it?"

I nodded. "I accept. It is an honor, Sage of Shadow."

"When we were in the Shadow Temple, I thought you my greatest enemy, and in the denouement I wished only to kill you, yet you rose above your curse when I could not, and proved that you are truly worthy of the title 'Hero.' Let this medallion be a reminder that your allegiance is that of good instead of evil." In a flash of purple light, a large violet disk appeared in Impa's hand. She held the disk out to me, and with great sanguine I received it.

"What do you plan on doing now?" I asked after pocketing the memento.

Impa frowned again. "I am going to leave Kakariko," she stated dully. "I think my trials have proved without a doubt that what Kakariko needs now is a world without the Sheikah and their shadows. I am the last of my people, and yet for years my kind's troubles have plagued the new citizens of Kakariko over and over again. It is time for their children to grow up in a world of light, not a world of misery."

I was shocked by her decision, but Impa wasn't one to change her mind; in that way, she was a lot like Darunia. "But where will you go?" I asked.

She smiled and looked straight at me. "Isn't it obvious? You have proven you side with good, but now it is my turn. For seven years, I have tested the friendship with my pupil Sheik; I think it is finally time to prove my allegiance to him. I hope this isn't a problem," Impa ended, "but Sheik and I are coming with you."

I blinked. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"He and I are coming with you," she repeated. "I've cast a blind eye to Ganondorf for too long; it is time that I avenge my people and bring justice to the Gerudo."

"And... And Sheik?"

"He wouldn't dare let me go on an adventure without him. He's been waiting for so long."

I was silent, but Navi gladly accepted Impa's offer (if that's what you'd call it). I suppose it was really a stroke of luck that Impa and Sheik decided to join the team; my past adventures had told me that purifying the temples is an impossible task without friends to help, and our next destination was a blank slate in the friend department. We set off immediately west, towards my final destination: the Haunted Wasteland. What surprises waited there I could not even fathom to guess, but for the moment I felt a feeling I had not felt since arriving at Zora's Domain: pure, unhindered happiness. The tables had turned, and we were now on the offensive. Ganondorf's days were numbered, and no puppetmaster would be there to stop us this time.

* * *

**A Note from the Author:** You would not believe how refreshing the ending was to write. I hope you enjoyed Rising Puppetmaster as much as you did the rest of the series (which I have decided to call the _Dark Mind_ series), and please don't forget to review! Stay tuned for the final installment of the series, Fallen Matriarch, which I hope to have up by mid-October.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!


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